Academic Journal
Entomopathogenic effect of Beauveria bassiana on Phlebotomus perniciosus (Diptera: Psychodidae).
| Τίτλος: | Entomopathogenic effect of Beauveria bassiana on Phlebotomus perniciosus (Diptera: Psychodidae). |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Guesser JVC; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy; National PhD Program in One Health Approaches to Infectious Diseases and Life Science Research, Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy., Bezerra-Santos MA; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy., Fagundes-Moreira R; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy; National PhD Program in One Health Approaches to Infectious Diseases and Life Science Research, Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy., Friuli M; Italian National Research Council Institute for Composite and Biomedical Materials IMCB, URT Lecce, Italy., Volf P; Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Czech Republic., Otranto D; Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano, Bari, Italy; Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, SAR, China. Electronic address: domenico.otranto@uniba.it. |
| Πηγή: | Acta tropica [Acta Trop] 2026 Aug; Vol. 280, pp. 108201. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 25. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 0370374 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-6254 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0001706X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Acta Trop Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Amsterdam : Elsevier Original Publication: Basel. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Beauveria*/pathogenicity , Beauveria*/growth & development , Phlebotomus*/microbiology , Phlebotomus*/growth & development , Pest Control, Biological*/methods, Larva/microbiology ; Ovum/microbiology ; Animals ; Female |
| Περίληψη: | Phlebotomus perniciosus (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the primary vector of Leishmania infantum and several phleboviruses in the Mediterranean Basin. Chemical insecticides (e.g., pyrethroids) remain the only effective tool for controlling sand fly populations and preventing transmission of vector-borne pathogens. However, their use raises concerns due to environmental and food contamination as well as development of insecticide resistance, advocating alternative control strategies such as the use of entomopathogenic fungi (EPF). For example, Beauveria bassiana has shown efficacy against several arthropod species, including mosquitoes, ticks and mites, though, no studies yet have been conducted on P. perniciosus. In this study we evaluated the pathogenicity of a native strain of B. bassiana on the egg hatching rate and developmental stages of P. perniciosus, conducting all experiments in triplicate. Eggs, first instar larvae, and gravid adult females of this sand fly species were exposed to different conidial concentrations of B. bassiana (1-5 × 10⁵, 1-5 × 10⁷, and 1-5 × 10⁹ conidia/mL). Control group was treated with distilled water containing 0.1% Tween 80. Beauveria bassiana inhibited egg hatching at the highest conidial concentration and all three concentrations reduced the lifespan of adult females by approximately half compared with control females. Infected females also laid significantly fewer eggs (5.9 ± 1.1 eggs per female) than control ones (30.4 ± 3.4 eggs per female). In contrast, larvae demonstrated low susceptibility to fungal infection. Overall, these results demonstrate the strong negative effect of B. bassiana exposure on P. perniciosus, highlighting its potential as a biocidal agent and contributing to the development of new strategies to suppress sand fly populations and reduce transmission of vector-borne pathogens. (Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Entomopathogenic fungi; Phlebotomine; Vector control |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260625 Date Completed: 20260715 Latest Revision: 20260715 |
| Update Code: | 20260715 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.actatropica.2026.108201 |
| PMID: | 42349736 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
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