El objetivo de este trabajo fue optimizar la interacción entre los hongos entomopatógenos y la cutícula de coleópteros plaga de granos almacenados. Dos cepas de Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Bb GHA y Bb ARSEF 5500) fueron cultivadas en medios de cultivo conteniendo dos fuentes de carbono diferentes: hidrocarburos análogos a los de insecto o glucosa. Tanto los porcentajes de mortalidad de Acanthoscelides obtectus (gorgojo del poroto) y Rhyzopertha dominica (taladrillo de los granos) como el desarrollo del micelio sobre la cutícula del huésped aumentaron significativamente luego de rociar los insectos con suspensiones de esporas de hongos desarrolladas in vitro en medios de cultivo con hidrocarburos respecto a los crecidos en glucosa. Los resultados demostraron que es posible incrementar la virulencia de los hongos entomopatógenos mediante una modificación nutricional del medio de cultivo.

The aim of this study was to optimize the interaction between entomopathogenic fungi and the cuticle of coleopteran pests of stored grains. Two strains of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Bb GHA y Bb ARSEF 5500) were grown in culture medium containing two different carbon sources, either insect-like hydrocarbons or glucose. Both, mortality percentage of Acanthoscelides obtectus (bean weevil) and Rhyzopertha dominica (lesser grain borer) and micelial growth on the host cuticle increased significantly after spraying the insects with hydrocarbon-grown fungal suspensions compared to glucose-grown. These results showed that increasing entomopathogenic fungal virulence is feasible by changing the nutrient composition of the culture medium

Capillary gas-liquid chromatography was used to analyse the cuticular hydrocarbons of three triatomine species, Triatoma dimidiata, T. barberi and Dipetalogaster maxima, domestic vectors of Chagas disease in Mexico. Mixtures of saturated hydrocarbons of straight and methyl-branched chains were characteristic of the three species, but quantitatively different. Major methylbranched components mostly corresponded to different saturated isomers of monomethyl, dimethyl and trimethyl branched hydrocarbons ranging from 29 to 39 carbon backbones. Sex-dependant, quantitative differences in certain hydrocarbons were apparent in T. dimidiata.