| Abstract: | The alates of the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, were daily trapped from the air from late October through early January and carried to laboratory for determination of fungal infection by individually rearing them for 7 d on detached cabbage leaves in Petri dishes. Among 760 alates trapped, 266 (35%) were found carrying various fungal pathogens, 87.3% of them died due to mycosis during the first 3-day period of rearing and the rest died in the following two days. Most of the deaths of the alates were attributed to entomophthoralean fungi, taking 94.4%, and the rest were the hyphomycetous fungus Beauveria bassiana. Among the Entomophthorales-killed alates, P. neoaphidis took a proportion of 66.1%, Z. anhuiensis 22.6%, E. planchoniana 9.7%, and N. fresenii 1.6%, respectively. Two alates were found suffering from cross infection of two fungal species, i.e. P. neoaphidis with Z. anhuiensis and N. fresenii, respectively. The results represent the first report on transmission of aphid-pathogenic fungi by M. persicae alates through migratory flight. |
