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Photo#800822
Cycloneda sanguinea with Laboulbeniales Fungus? - Cycloneda sanguinea - female

Cycloneda sanguinea with Laboulbeniales Fungus? - Cycloneda sanguinea - Female
Lake Jackson, Brazoria County, Texas, USA
July 8, 2013
Just noticed this "growth" on two individuals on an Asclepias curassavica (Tropical Milkweed) infested with Aphis nerii (Oleander Aphid). Is this the same fungus attacking other lady beetles? Found no reference to this fungus on Cycloneda sanguinea.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

the beetle's female, for what it's worth
The lack of a white anterior border to the pronotum is diagnostic. The fact that the fungus is on the dorsum can also be an indication of gender; it's often spread by mating and the initial point of contact is the female dorsum and male venter.

 
Worth a Lot
Thank you for the way to identify gender. They did the job, fungus or not, as all aphids were totally eliminated on that plant in 2 days.

There are several more adults that I will check.

Laboulbeniales, certainly
To determine the species of fungus, you would need to send it to a specialist. Monica Hughes might be willing to take a look.

 
Thank you.
Was mostly interested in getting confirmation that the fungus family also attacks Cycloneda sanguinea as there are no reports on bugguide.

Also wanted to add a data point as there are no records of this species in Texas in July (and didn't know how else to do it as I'm really new to bugguide).

Thanks again.

 
Hesperomyces virescens
Hi Monica,
This will probably turn out to be Hesperomyces virescens. I would need to see it in person (and under microscope) for certain id, but this host - Cycloneda - is known in the literature to be host to Hesperomyces virescens Thaxt., a parasite in the order Laboulbeniales.

If you're interested in having the fungus identified, you can always send the specimen to me. Let me know.

Danny

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