Metarhizium rileyi

Metarhizium rileyi^[6] is a species of entomopathogenic fungus in the family Clavicipitaceae. This species is known to infect Lepidoptera, including economically important insects in the Noctuoidea and Bombycoidea; there is an extensive (pre 2014) literature on this fungus under its synonym Nomuraea rileyi.

Metarhizium rileyi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Sordariomycetes
Order:	Hypocreales
Family:	Clavicipitaceae
Genus:	Metarhizium
Species:	M. rileyi
Binomial name
Metarhizium rileyi (Farl.) Kepler, Rehner & Humber (2014)
Synonyms
Nomuraea rileyi (Farl.) Samson (1974)[1] Beauveria rileyi (Farl.) Gösswald 1939[2] Spicaria rileyi (Farl.) Charles 1936[3] Spicaria prasina (Maubl.) Sawada 1919[4] Nomuraea prasina Maubl. 1903[5] Botrytis rileyi Farl. 1883[4]

Importance

In sericulture, the term "green muscardine" has been used for fungal infections of silkworms caused by M. rileyi.^[7]

M. rileyi has been considered as a potential mycoinsecticide for use against several noctuid insect pests.^[8] Blastospores of M. rileyi can be produced easily in liquid media: but conidia are preferred for practical field use. For laboratory purposes, these can be produced, expensively, on Sabouraud’s maltose agar supplemented with 1% yeast extract, but the use of grain substrates is preferred for mass production.^[9]