12241 - Ocorrência natural de Beauveria bassiana em Atta sexdens rubropilosa Natural occurrence of Beauveria bassiana in Atta leaf cutter

Filamentous fungi can occur in natural conditions on leaf-cutting ants, and some species has been isolated from the genus Atta. The study aimed to verify the occurrence of Beauveria bassiana queens of Atta sexdens rubropilosa. Queens of this species were collected during the flight and placed in plastic pots with plaster. The queens were observed for three months and found dead were superficially disinfected in alcohol, sodium hypochlorite and distilled water, had removed a portion of the tissue inside the chest for isolation of fungi. This fragment was inoculated on BDA supplemented with penicillin-G and incubated at 25 °C in the dark, 3 to 4 days. The fungi that developed in these fragments were isolated, purified and stored at 9 ° C. In 2007, the total of the queens had killed 65% the development of filamentous fungi after surface disinfection and in 2008, the total number of corpses, 68% were filamentous fungi, and the percentage of queens with B. bassiana was 10% in the first year and 7.35% in 2008.