Metarhizium pinghaense

Metarhizium pinghaense is a species of entomopathogenic fungus in the family Clavicipitaceae. Some authorities have it as a synonym of Metarhizium anisopliae. DNA studies show that it is a good species,^[2] with strong bootstrap support.^[3]

Metarhizium pinghaense
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Sordariomycetes
Order:	Hypocreales
Family:	Clavicipitaceae
Genus:	Metarhizium
Species:	M. pinghaense
Binomial name
Metarhizium pinghaense Q.T. Chen & H.L. Guo[1]
Synonyms
Metarhizium pingshaense (orth. var.)

Researchers in Burkina Faso have created a strain of M. metarhizium genetically engineered to produce the venom of an Australian funnel-web spider; exposure to the fungus caused populations of anopheles mosquitoes, which spread malaria, to crash by 99% in a controlled trial. ^[4]