Gall midges are important pests in many crops. In fruit, they are difficult to control due to their life cycle, which takes place partially within the fruit. Here, we provide the first successful laboratory experiment to infect pear gall midge (Contarinia pyrivora) with the insect pathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum. We developed a procedure for sampling larvae, maintaining them in the laboratory and subjecting them to the fungus. We demonstrated that dipping larvae in a fungus suspension or adding a fungus suspension to the soil result in significant fungus induced mortality of the pear gall midge. An immune response in treated larvae was recorded proving that there was a real pathogenesis. Finally, we discuss next steps and a strategy for field experiments.

中文翻译：

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用昆虫病原真菌绿僵菌对梨瘿蚊（Contarinia pyrivora）进行生物防治的第一步

绦虫是许多作物的重要害虫。在水果中，由于它们的生命周期部分发生在水果中，因此它们难以控制。在这里，我们提供了第一个成功的实验室实验，用昆虫病原真菌绿僵菌感染梨瘿蚊（Contarinia pyrivora）。我们开发了一种对幼虫进行采样、将它们保存在实验室中并将它们置于真菌中的程序。我们证明将幼虫浸入真菌悬浮液中或将真菌悬浮液添加到土壤中会导致梨瘿蚊的显着真菌诱导死亡率。记录了处理过的幼虫的免疫反应，证明存在真正的发病机制。最后，我们讨论了下一步和现场实验的策略。