Ladybird Beetle - Harmonia axyridis

Laboulbeniales fungus, Hesperomyces

This is a fantastic photo.

The fungus is a member of Laboulbeniales, under the genus Hesperomyces. Almost 100% positive it is Hesperomyces virescens as I do not know of other species that grow on Harmonia.

Hesperomyces occurs on all sorts of coccinellids (and a Scymnus from New Zealand), including Harmonia, Hippodamia, etc.

As for the rest of the pictures linked here that are on Harmonia, the infections are almost certainly all H. virescens.

Would be happy to help in IDs of Laboulbeniales in the future.

Monica Hughes

… Monica Hughes, 18 July, 2010 - 10:55am

Moved

Moved from Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle.

… Abigail Parker, 6 May, 2010 - 12:23pm

Moved

Moved from Ladybird Beetles.

… Tim Moyer, 2 June, 2009 - 11:34am

And also this article...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/230781#327964

… Harsi S. Parker, 22 May, 2009 - 12:23pm

Check out these other posts...

http://bugguide.net/node/view/35636
http://bugguide.net/node/view/24075

If this is the same thing, your specimen seems to have an especially abundant growth!

… Harsi S. Parker, 22 May, 2009 - 12:19pm

Hesperomyces virescens

In an email to me, mycologist Monica Hughes identifies this fungus as Hesperomyces virescens in the order Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota) and describes it as a very common species. At her suggestion, I searched the internet via Google for additional information, finding the following citation, very relevant to this BG posting: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2317/0304.18.1?journalCode=kent

Thanks to Dr. Hughes for this information!

… John Pearson, 16 June, 2009 - 5:42pm

Thank you

Very interesting articles and yes, the bug I photographed had more than it's share of fungus. On another note, it has been raining here in the deep south off and on for weeks. Maybe this contributed to the excessive growth of fungus on the Ladybird Beetle.

… Jerry Armstrong, 23 May, 2009 - 1:10am