Entomopathogenic fungi associated with insect hibernating in underground shelters

sect hibernating in underground shelters. – Czech Mycol. 57(3–4): 221–237. In the period 2001–2004, several hundreds of underground shelters (mainly abandoned galleries, caves, and cellars) in W and SW Bohemia (Czech Republic) were explored for insect cadavers with visi-ble fungal growth. At 27 localities, 94 infected cadavers of six insect taxa were collected. The most fre-quent infected insects were Triphosa dubitata, Scoliopteryx libatrix (Lepidoptera; Geometridae and Noctuidae, resp.) and unidentifed mosquitoes (Diptera, Culicidae). On the collected cadavers, alto-gether 20 species of microfungi (including sterile mycelia) were recorded, most of them belonging to entomopathogens. The most frequent was Paecilomyces farinosus (36 % of all samples) and Cordyceps sp. (15 %) which had affinity to C. tuberculata and C. riverae. Close association with insects was shown by Cordyceps sp. (with Triphosa dubitata) and Conidiobolus destruens (with unidentified mosquitoes). On the contrary, Paecilomyces farinosus was recorded on five different insect species. Also several other interesting species were found (e.g. Hirsutella guignardii, Engyodontium cf. parvisporum), probably not yet recorded from the Czech Republic. Microphotographs of some microfungi studied are included