ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Pest Management
Identification of Metamasius hemipterus (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae) and its biological control through the use of species of the genus Beauveria and Metarhizium. Amazonas, Peru
Provisionally accepted
Santos Triunfo Leiva-Espinoza1*
Alcides Roman-Peña2
Vilma Aguilar-Rafael3Elizabeth Requejo-Sánchez4
Wagner Meza Maicelo3Duber Banda-Martinez4
Angel Pilco3Fredy Carlesi Loyola-Conchucos4Melissa Iris Loja-Torres3
Jorge Luis Maicelo-Quintana5- 1Instituto de Investigación para el Desarrollo Sustentable de Ceja de Selva, Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza de Amazonas, Chachapoyas, Amazonas, Perú, Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza de Amazonas, Chachapoyas, Peru
- 2Instituto Nacional de Innovacion Agraria, La Molina, Peru
- 3Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza de Amazonas Instituto de Investigacion para el Desarrollo Sustentable de Ceja de Selva, Chachapoyas, Peru
- 4Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza de Amazonas, Chachapoyas, Peru
- 5Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza de Amazonas Facultad de Ingenieria Zootecnista Agronegocios y Biotecnologia, Chachapoyas, Peru
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Biological control of insect pests represents a key strategy toward sustainable agriculture. This study, focused on the morphological and molecular identification of the sugarcane weevil, Metamasius hemipterus, (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), and on the evaluation of the biocontrol potential of four entomopathogenic fungi: Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria peruviensis, and Metarhizium sp., the major pest of this crop in Amazonas, Peru. Molecular identification was conduced through phylogenetic analysis, while morphological identification was based on the description of characteristics following established protocols. Both approaches confirmed the identity of the pest as Metamasius hemipterus L. Bioassays were carried out under a completely randomized design, testing four conidial concentrations (1 × 10⁹, 1 × 10¹⁰, 1 × 10¹², and 1 × 10¹⁴ conidia/mL), plus a control. Metarhizium anisopliae at 1 × 10¹⁰ conidia/mL was the most virulent, producing the highest mortality and exhibiting the lowest lethal concentration (LC₅₀ = 2.68 × 10⁹ conidia/mL) against Metamasius hemipterus adults. Conversely, Beauveria peruviensis at 1 × 10¹⁴ conidia/mL achieved the highest colonization efficiency in insect cadavers, with a mycosis rate of 99.4%. These findings indicate that Beauveria peruviensis and Metarhizium anisopliae are promising biological control agents against the sugarcane weevil, the major pest of sugarcane in the Amazonas region of Peru.
Keywords: biological control, entomopathogen, pests, sugarcane, weevil
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 12 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Leiva-Espinoza, Roman-Peña, Aguilar-Rafael, Requejo-Sánchez, Meza Maicelo, Banda-Martinez, Pilco, Loyola-Conchucos, Loja-Torres and Maicelo-Quintana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Santos Triunfo Leiva-Espinoza
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