The "fig fly", Zaprionus indianus, has spread by in Brazil and in recent years and has caused losses of up to 50% in the production of figs. A viable alternative to control this fly may be the use of entomopathogenic fungi such. The present study was developed in laboratory (27±1°C, RH 70±10% and 12h photoperiod), to assess the susceptibility of larval and adult stages of Z. indianus to five concentrations (10(8) to 10(4) conidia mL-1) of B. bassiana (URM2915; ESALQ447) and M. anisopliae (URM3349; URM4403). There was no larval mortality and the pre-pupal period did not change compared with the control group, whereas the pupal stage was increased by up to three days when we used B. bassiana URM2916. The emergence of adults decreased compared to the control group and was 10.6% when the larvae were treated with the highest concentration of B. bassiana URM2916 and 2.0% for M. anisopliae URM4403. In the adult's bioassay, the maximum mortality reached 98.7% with B. bassiana and 100.0% with M. anisopliae. The lowest LC50 values were 1.09x10(5) conidia mL-1 for B. bassiana URM2916 and 1.94x10(4) conidia mL-1 for M. anisopliae URM4403. The medium lethal time (LT50) ranged from 4.5 to 6.12 days. The results showed that both fungi are efficient and promising biocontrol agents of fig fly, mainly M. anisopliae URM4403.
Beauveria bassiana; Metarhizium anisopliae; biological control; virulence
