A new microsporidian species, Vairimorpha ocinarae n. sp., isolated from Ocinara lida Moore (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) in Taiwan.
A new microsporidium was isolated from Ocinara lida Moore (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), a pest of Ficus microcarpa L. f. in Taiwan. The microsporidium produces systemic infections in O. lida larvae; the midgut epithelium, Malpighian tubules, and midgut muscle tissues were the target tissues for this isolate, and atrophied fat body tissues were found in heavily infected larvae. Two types of spores were observed, diplokaroytic spores with 11-13 coils of polar tube, and monokaryotic spores with 12 coils of the polar tube that developed within a sporophorous vesicle to form octospores. Electron-dense granules were abundant in the episporontal space of the sporophorous vesicles, and were similar to those of Vairimorpha invictae isolated from Solenopsis invicta, but different from granules or inclusions of other Vairimorpha species. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the small subunit ribosomal DNA sequence, this isolate is unique within the Vairimorpha complex. Morphological and genetic characters showed this isolate to be a new species. It is placed in the genus Vairimorpha and is described as Vairimorpha ocinarae n. sp.
Wang
Chih-Yuan
CY
Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan. wangch@ntu.edu.tw
Solter
Leellen F
LF
Huang
Wei-Fong
WF
Tsai
Yi-Chun
YC
Lo
Chu-Fang
CF
Wang
Chung-Hsiung
CH
D000818:Animals; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D016814:Microsporidia / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009036:Moths / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D054679:Ribosome Subunits, Small / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013624:Taiwan