Entomophthora syrphi, a new species of Entomophthorales for Iran

Abstract

After heavy rainfalls in late Apr. of 2010 in Tehran, an epizootic occurred amongst hoverflies (<em>Eupeodes</em> <em>corollae</em> Fabricius) population in green spaces of Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, caused by an entomopathogenic fungus. Infected flies fixed to the upper parts of whitetop (<em>Lepidium</em> <em>draba</em> L.) and small tumbleweed mustard (<em>Sisymbrium</em> <em>loeslii</em> L.) plants with their proboscis and clasped legs, their head went downwards and their wings spread latero-dorsally. The fungus produced conidiophores, which ruptured the host cuticle at the intersegmental membranes, resulting in cream-coloured mycelial bands on the abdomen or in a complete cover of the dorsal abdomen. They forcibley discharged around primary conidia, many of them landed on wings and on the surface of the cadaver.