Screening of entomopathogenic fungi against the brown-winged green bug, Plautia stali Scott (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae).

Entomopathogenic fungi with high pathogenicity against the brown-winged green bug adult, Plautia stali, were selected from among the 711 isolates of entomopathogenic fungi in our laboratory culture collections including Beauveria, Metarhizium and Paecilomyces genera.For the first screening, a plate assay method, in which stink bugs contacted conidia on their developing plates, was used, and 31 isolates of Beauveria bassiana and 20 isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae were selected.For the second selection, stink bugs were dipped into a conidial suspension, and LC 50 values were estimated from the data of the 7th day after treatments.The results showed that Metarhizium isolates were relatively more virulent than Beauveria isolates.The minimum LC 50 value was obtained from M. anisopliae isolate FRM515, being 6ϫ10 4 conidia/ml.When the suspension of 1ϫ10 7 conidia/ml was used, LT 50 value of the isolate was 4.9 days.The highest pathogenicity of isolate FRM515 in our collections suggests that the isolate would be a potential candidate as a microbial control agent for the stink bug.