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IMI Descriptions of LECANICILLIUM LONGISPORUM
Fungi and Bacteria
No. 1566
Conidiophores and conidia from two different isolates (from ZARE & GAMS, 2001).
Lecanicillium longisporum (Petch) Zare & W. Gams, Nova Hedwigia 73: 16 (2001).
Cephalosporium longisporum Petch, Transactions of the British Mycological Society 10: 166 (1925) [non
Verticillium longisporum (C. Stark) Karapapa et al. (1997)].
?Acrostalagmus aphidum Oudem., Nederlands Kruidkundig Archief 3(2): 759 (1902).
Cephalosporium dipterigenum Petch, Naturalist 1931: 102 (1931).
Colonies reaching 10–30 mm diam. after 10 days at 24°C on PDA, rather raised, white, then becoming
sulphur-yellow, with reverse cream to pale yellow. Conidiogenous cells phialides, rather long, 20–40 × (1–)
2–2⋅7 µm, tapering towards apex (sub-aculeate), often produced singly on prostrate hyphae or up to 6 at each
node, or on secondarily produced phialides. Conidia produced in globose heads, 5⋅3–10⋅7 × 1⋅5–2⋅5 µm,
ellipsoidal to oblong-oval, mostly 1-celled, rarely 1-septate. Crystals commonly present, octahedral or
prismatic. Growth temperature optimum 21–24°C, no growth at 33°C (ZARE & GAMS, 2001).
DISEASE: Insect-pathogenic.
HOSTS: Icerya purchasi (Coccidae), citrus aphids, Myzus persicae and Macrosiphoniella sanborni (Aphididae)
(HALL, 1984).
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: SOUTH AMERICA: Peru. ASIA: Sri Lanka. EUROPE: Great Britain.
PHYSIOLOGICAL SPECIALIZATION: None reported.
TRANSMISSION: Soil- and air-borne.
NOTES: This species was for the most part synonymized with Verticillium lecanii, in which an almost
continuous range of conidial sizes was observed (GAMS, 1971). Phylogenetically, the species is distinct
(ZARE et al., 2000; ZARE & GAMS, 2001) but closest to L. muscarium, from which it can be distinguished
by the consistently longer and wider conidia (SUKAPURE & THIRUMALACHAR, 1966; ZARE & GAMS,
2001). Type material of Acrostalagmus aphidum was not found in Leiden (L), only a drawing that did not
allow a definite conclusion as to its identity.
The commercial product ‘Vertalec’, used in the biological control of aphids (CHANDLER et al., 1993),
was originally derived from a strain isolated from Macrosiphoniella sanborni and identified as
Verticillium lecanii, but has since been determined as L. longisporum. Subsequently the strain was
changed or mixed with other strains (HELYER et al., 1992).
Many commercially important entomopathogenic fungi produce a chymoelastase-type protease (Pr1).
Southern-blot analysis demonstrated that genes with significant homologies to Metarhizium Pr1 are
present in Verticillium lecanii (ST LÉGER et al., 1992), but the fungus involved is more likely to have been
L. muscarium. However, ZARE (2000) could not amplify the Pr1 gene in L. longisporum isolates.
LITERATURE: CHANDLER, D., HEALE, J.B. & GILLESPIE, A.T., Annals of Applied Biology 122: 435–440
(1993). GAMS, W., Cephalosporium-artige Schimmelcultures (Hyphomycetes) (Stuttgart, Germany: G.
Fischer): 262 pp. (1971). HALL, R.A., Entomophaga 29: 311–321 (1984). HELYER, N., GILL, G. &
BYWATER, A., in SUNDERLAND, CRUTE, BURCHILL & BEN-ARIE (eds), Non-Chemical Approaches to
Crop Protection in Horticulture (Wellesbourne, UK: Horticulture Research International): 9–12 (1992).
ST LÉGER, R.J., FRANK, D.E., ROBERTS, D.W. & STAPLES, R.C., European Journal of Biochemistry 204:
991–1001 (1992). SUKAPURE, R.S. & THIRUMALACHAR, M.J., Mycologia 58: 351–360 (1966). ZARE, R.,
Contributions to the Taxonomy of Verticillium, Thesis (PhD), University of Reading, UK (2000). ZARE,
R. & GAMS, W., Nova Hedwigia 73: 1–50 (2001). ZARE, R., GAMS, W. & CULHAM, A., Nova Hedwigia
71: 465–480 (2000).
R. Zare1 & W. Gams2
1 Department of Botany, Plant Pests & Diseases Research Institute, Tehran, Iran
2 Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, The Netherlands
[Numbers in brackets, e.g. (62, 5055), refer to abstracts in Review of Plant Pathology.]
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