Lethal effect of Entomopathogenic fungi on the Grasshoppers (Acrididae: Orthoptera) with special reference to its body size

Abstract

Lethal infections of entomopathogenic fungi and their host range on many grasshopper’s species was studied from three different ecological zones of Sindh Pakistan that were categorized into three sides that include: Khairpur, Sukkur and Ghotki (1st site),Kashmor and Jacobabad (2nd site) and Shikarpur and Larkana(3rd site).Total No. of specimens were collected 2028 from this sampling 43%, 36% and 32% were found contaminated with various pathogenic fungi from these selected areas. It was observed that mostly the entomopathogenic fungi belonging to class Deuteromycetes. Beside this, it was noticed that smaller size individual were more infected with pathogen compare to large size.