Mass harvesting of the entomopathogenic fungus, Neozygites fresenii, from natural field epizootics in the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii

Epizootics caused by insect pathogens sometimes occur over wide areas and result in millions of infected insects. Naturally infected insects can be considered a natural resource for harvesting insect pathogens. We developed methods to mass harvest the fungal pathogen Neozygites fresenii (Entomophthorales: Neozygitaceae) from epizootics in Aphis gossypii (Homoptera: Aphididae) in a commercial cotton field in Arkansas. A total of 30,722 aphids infected with N. fresenii in the mature hyphal body or early conidiophore stages were harvested, dried, and frozen. Three desiccants were compared: silica gel, dry rock salt, and wet rock salt. Silica gel was the superior material because it more rapidly and thoroughly dried cotton leaves and aphids. Using this method a mean of 193.4 infected aphids could be harvested per hour from cotton leaves dried over silica gel. The quality of harvested infected aphids was high and resulted in a mean of 70.4% sporulation from infected aphids harvested from the silica gel desiccant.