Natural infection of the beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis L. (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) with three Microsporidia and host switching in Nosema ceranae.

Three species of Microsporidia were identified from a population of the beet webworm Loxostege sticticalis at prevalence rates of 35, 4, and 3%. The most prevalent parasite (Tubulinosema sp.) was similar to Tubulinosema acridophagus (99.8% ssrDNA sequence similarity) and was also isolated from the parasitoid Lydella thompsoni (Diptera, Tachinidae) that emerged from the beet webworms. In laboratory assays, spores of this Tubulinosema sp. showed an infection rate of up to 80% for both L. sticticalis and Galleria mellonella larvae. The spores were viable after 12 months of storage in dried infected cadavers. The second most prevalent parasite was closely related to Nosema furnacalis and Nosema granulosis (98.7% similarity). Fresh spores showed a 50% infection rate under laboratory conditions. The third most abundant parasite was identified as the honeybee pathogen Nosema ceranae (100% ssrDNA and 95-100% IGS similarity). In the laboratory, fresh spores of N. ceranae isolated from beet webworm and honey bee were infective to L. sticticalis larvae at the rates of 5 and 2%, respectively.

Onset of Oviposition Triggers Abrupt Reduction in Migratory Flight Behavior and Flight Muscle in the Female Beet Webworm, Loxostege sticticalis.

Flight and reproduction are usually considered as two life history traits that compete for resources in a migratory insect. The beet webworm, Loxostege sticticalis L., manages the costs of migratory flight and reproduction through a trade-off in timing of these two life history traits, where migratory behavior occurs during the preoviposition period. To gain insight into how migratory flight and reproduction are coordinated in the female beet webworm, we conducted experiments beginning at the end of the preoviposition period. We used flight mills to test whether flight performance and supportive flight musculature and fuel are affected by the number of eggs oviposited, or by the age of mated and unmated females after onset of oviposition by the former. The results showed that flight distance, flight velocity, flight duration, and flight muscle mass decreased abruptly at the onset of oviposition, compared to that of virgin females of the same age which did not change over the next 7 d. These results indicate that onset of oviposition triggers a decrease in flight performance and capacity in female beet webworms, as a way of actively managing reallocation of resources away from migratory flight and into egg production. In addition to the abrupt switch, there was a gradual, linear decline in flight performance, flight muscle mass, and flight fuel relative to the number of eggs oviposited. The histolysis of flight muscle and decrease of triglyceride content indicate a progressive degradation in the ability of adults to perform additional migratory flights after onset of oviposition. Although the results show that substantial, albeit reduced, long-duration flights remain possible after oviposition begins, additional long-distance migratory flights probably are not launched after the initiation of oviposition.

Redefinition of Nosema pyrausta (Perezia pyraustae Paillot 1927) basing upon ultrastructural and molecular phylogenetic studies.

Populations of European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner) from Krasnodar Territory (Southwestern Russia) become regularly infected with Nosema-like microsporidia. To identify the parasite, it was subjected to electron microscopy and small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene sequencing. The spore ultrastructure of the parasite was highly similar to Nosema bombycis from China and Nosema pyrausta from the USA. The nucleotide sequence of SSU rRNA gene was identical to a microsporidium isolated from O. nubilalis in southern France (GenBank accession no. HM566196) and closely related to Nosema bombycis (no. AY209011, 99.7 % sequence similarity) from Bombyx mori of Chinese origin and N. pyrausta (no. AY958071) from O. nubilalis of North American origin. As the molecular haplotype of SSU rRNA is fixed for the parasite infecting O. nubilalis across Europe and N. pyrausta was initially described in France as Perezia pyraustae (Paillot CR Acad Sci Paris 185: 673-675, 1927), we conclude that the parasite examined under the present study correspond to the type isolate of N. pyrausta. The microsporidium from O. nubilalis in North America (no. AY958071) corresponds therefore to a closely related, yet distinct haplotype.