395 VOL. 42, NO. 2 SOUTHWESTERN ENTOMOLOGIST JUN. 2017 Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Entomopathogenic Fungi with Potential to Control Sugarcane Borers at Sinaloa Guadalupe Vejar-Cota 2 , Cipriano García-Gutiérrez 2 *, Ninfa M. Rosas-García 3 , Cesar M. Escobedo-Bonilla 2 , and Héctor A. González-Ocampo 2 The goal of this study was to identify strains of fungi, by morphological and molecular techniques, with potential to control the sugarcane borer complex Diatraea considerata (Heinrich), D. grandiosella (Dyar), and Eoreuma loftini (Dyar) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). These species are the most important pests in sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum (L.), crops at Sinaloa (Rodríguez-Del-Bosque and Vejar-Cota 2008). Vejar-Cota et al. (2016) recently used morphological and molecular techniques to clarify the identification of these species, and voucher specimens were deposited in the CIIDIR at Sinaloa. Eight new strains of entomopathogenic fungi from two collections in Mexico were ingressed to our Fungi Collection (Table 1). Pathogenicity of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) (Vuillemin), Metarhizum anisopliae (Metschnikoff) Sorokin, and Isaria javanica (Friederichs & Bally) Samson & Hywel-Jones, was determined against the sugarcane borer complex. The fungal strains killed 56.7 to 98.8% of first- to third-instar D. considerata larvae. According to Tangthirasunun et al. (2010), fungi must be thoroughly identified by morphological and molecular features before being evaluated as potential bioinsecticides. Morphological Identification. All strains of fungi (Table 1) were cultured as follows: a block (1 cm 2 ) of potato dextrose agar was placed into a Petri dish and inoculated with an individual fungal strain, according to methods described by Inglis et al. (2012). The cultures were incubated at room temperature (26-27°C) for 7 days. The cultures were done in triplicate. Once the fungal structures were seen, cover slips were removed and a drop of blue cotton with lactic acid was added (Jensen 1962). Slides were viewed at 100 X with the aid of a microscope (Leica DM6000 CS ® IL), and images were created with a digital camera (Leica DFC450 C ® integrated with a micrometer LAS AF 2.5 Lite program). Taxonomic keys by Samson (1974) and Humber (2012) were used to morphologically identify fungi. Each fungal species was characterized based on the shape and size of conidia, conidiogenous cells, and colony growth rate. A circular sterile filter paper (6 mm) was placed at the center of a Petri dish with acidified potato dextrose agar (lactic acid 10%), and 2 μl of a conidial suspension (2.1 x 10 6 spores/ml) was added (Brunner-Mendoza et al. 2013) and incubated at 27 ± 1°C for 20 days. The experiment used five replications per strain. Every third day, two perpendicularly ________________________ 1 Lepidoptera: Crambidae 2 Instituto Politécnico Nacional-COFAA, CIIDIR Unidad Sinaloa. Blvd. Juan de Dios Bátiz Paredes no. 250, Colonia San Joachín, Guasave, Sinaloa. CP. 81101. 3 Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Centro de Biotecnología Genómica. Reynosa Tamps. Blvd. del maestro s/n esquina Elías Piña, Colonia Narciso Mendoza. CP. 87710. *Corresponding author: garciaciprian@hotmail.com