Figure 1.

SEM images of Metarhizium anisopliae during development of pathogenesis in Coptotermes curvignathus at different time-points post-inoculation (PI). (a) At 6 h PI, pathogenesis starts with the attachment of fungal conidia near hairs of C. curvignathus, (b) at 6 h PI, germination of the conidia and penetration through the epicuticle layer, (c) at 12 h PI, elongation of appressorium tube along the termites’s exocuticle, and (d) at 24 h PI, most of the conidia between the conidial mass attached to the epicuticle layer was germinated and elongated into the integument. (e) At 96 h PI, mummification of the termite’s body initiated by elongation of the fungal hypha into mycelium and (f) at 144 h PI, emergence of new conidia in abundance on the mycelial mat. R = hair, C = conidia, G = germ tube, A = Appressorium tube, M = mycelium.