The Fungus Phlebiopsis flavidoalba’s Pathogenicity and Virulence Toward the Fluted Scale (Praelongorthezia acapulcoa) Pest of Rice and Sugarcane Crops

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Detailed comments as following. 

Ø  Please write authority, family and order for all the organisms scientific names at first mention. Follow this suggestion throughout the manuscript

Ø  Why author used only pre-reproductive stage females for the bioassay?

Ø  Isolate SHS2 OR SH52?

Ø  Why? pathogenicity was only evaluated at a concentration of 1×107 conidia mL- 1; while for virulence 5 concentrations. What is the justification, the pathogenicity must be tested on all concentrations same like virulence?

Ø  The percentage of mortality was determined on day 12 (time at which leaves are depleted), it means the insect died because of the food deficiency?

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Comments on the Quality of English Language

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Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Entomopathogenic fungi are very useful biological resources as biological control agents. They are especially useful for pests that are difficult to control chemically. Scale insects are one of the representative pests that are difficult to control chemically. In that sense, this study is considered to have high utility in terms of discovering new fungal resources. In particular, it is considered to have high research excellence in that it is the first report on the potential of Phlebiopsis flavidoalba as a control agent. However, the following points require supplementation and modification.

1. Generally, the pure isolation of fungi uses various single spore isolation methods, but I wonder if there is a special reason for not doing so. Additional explanation is needed as to whether the fungal isolation method used by the authors can achieve the same level of pure isolation as single spore isolation.

2. Line 96-99: Several fungal isolates were isolated from cadaver, and isolate SH52 was further studied because it showed pathogenicity in a preliminary study. This part is very important for the entire study. It should be stated how many kinds and how many isolates were isolated from cadaver. In addition, a detailed explanation of how the preliminary study evaluating pathogenicity was conducted should be added. It would be better if the preliminary pathogenicity evaluation results of fungal isolates were also presented as supplementary data.

3. In the morphological identification results, please compare the morphological characteristics of the Phlebiopsis genus with existing reports and add a more detailed identification description. Also, please replace the provided photo with another photo or a photo with a higher resolution to clearly show the characteristics of the Phlebiopsis genus.

4. In Figure 2, Phlebia acerina should be corrected to Phlebia instead of ‘P’ so that it can be distinguished.

5. Line 237-239: A mortality rate of 61.1% in lab experiment is not high. If the observation period is longer than 12 days, the results may be different, but I wonder if there is a special reason why this is not the case.

6. Also, if you performed daily observations, you could provide not only LC50 but also LT50. I hope you add the results for LT50.

7. In the discussion, LC50 values ​​are an important factor as a control agent, but mortality is also a very important factor. Please provide additional discussion on whether a SH52 that showed 61% mortality in laboratory experiments is valuable as a control agent.

Author Response

 

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Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors studied cadavers of Praelongorthezia acapulcoa with white mycelium were collected from sugarcane crops. The isolated fungus was morphologically and molecularly identified and evaluated in terms of pathogenicity and virulence against P. acapulcoa under laboratory conditions.

 

It is quite an interesting work that can be published after minor modifications.

 

Praelongorthezia acapulcoa is a pest species that multiplies relatively quickly. Therefore, explain why mortality was evaluated at only one date, namely the 12th day after application. If you have data recorded before the 12th day or even after the 12th day, it would be appropriate to include this information as well.. Considering that adults were used, it can be assumed that 12 days is a long enough time to load a new generation. What was the observed fertility? Also discuss the possibility of transmission of P. flavidoalba in the pest colony to the next offspring. These discussions will increase the benefit of your discovery.

Author Response

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Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Most of the comments from the previous revision were not full filled. please see the attached pdf file

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf