Hesperomyces virescens (Fungi, Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) attacking Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) in its native range

Abstract

This study intended to find data on obligate ectoparasitic Laboulbeniales (Fungi, Ascomycota) on Chinese Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae). After having screened over four thousand dried specimens of H. axyridis and close relatives, we present the first (historical) record of Chinese H. axyridis infected with Hesperomyces virescens. We suggest that H. virescens is a historically globally distributed species and hypothesize that (native) infection was lost when H. axyridis was introduced in North America. © 2014 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.