Resource Survey And Genetic Diversity Analysis Of Aschersonia Spp. And Their Telemorph Stage

Aschersonia spp. and their teleomorph are important insect pathogenic fungi and mainly parasitize whitefly and scale insects, which are important agriculture or forestry pests. They are rich in natural resources and widely distributed throughout the world. Since they can continuous control the pests, they have great value in pest biological control. Up to now, Aschersonia spp, have been found in Eastern China and Sichuan Province. To make an investigation on the resources of Aschersonia as well as their teleomorph stages and their genetic biodiversity is necessary for the better use of them in pest control.At the basis of preliminary studies ,The specieman of Aschersonia spp. were collected from Eastern China to add collection of resources and identified based on the morphological characters and cultivate species traits. Altogether, 15 species of Aschersonia spp. were found. They were, Aschersonia aleyrodis Webber, A. badia, A. basicystis, A. blumenaviensis, A. brunnea, A. ceramichroa, A. coffeae, A. duplex, A. fimbriata, A. hainanensis, A. macrostroma, A. marginata, A. microspore, A. taitensis,A. tamurai. Among them, 3 are new species, i.e. A. hainanensis, A. macrostroma and A. microspore, and 4 are new records in China species i.e. A. brunnea, A. ceramichroa, A. coffeae, A. fimbriatai. We also discovered the Aschersonia and its teleomorph which occurred simultaneously, and 5 species of teleomorph were identified, Hypocrella hirsut,Moelleriella libera,M. ochracea,M. raciborskii and M. zhongdongii.The genetic differences among Aschersonia spp. were compared based on the partial sequences of large subunit ribosomal DNA gene and elongation factor-1. The results will provide data for the genetic biodiversity study of Aschersonia spp.