Scaling up tests on virulence of the cassava green mite fungal pathogen Neozygites tanajoae (Entomophthorales: Neozygitaceae) under controlled conditions: first observations at the population level.

Virulence of entomopathogens is often measured at the individual level using a single host individual or a group of host individuals. To what extent these virulence assessments reflect the impact of an entomopathogen on their host in the field remains largely untested, however. A methodology was developed to induce epizootics of the cassava green mite fungal pathogen Neozygites tanajoae under controlled conditions to evaluate population-level virulence of two (one Beninese and one Brazilian) isolates of the entomopathogen--which had shown similar individual-level virulence but different field impacts.