TRANSMISSION OF THE MYCOPARASITE CONIOTHYRIUM-MINITANS BY COLLEMBOLANFOLSOMIA-CANDIDA (COLLEMBOLA, ENTOMOBRYIDAE) AND GLASSHOUSE SCIARID-BRADYSIA SP (DIPTERA, SCIARIDAE)

Folsomia candida was maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates p recolonised by the. mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans for 3 yr but th e sciarid Bradysia sp. survived for a maximum of only three generation s. Collembolans and sciarid larvae from these cultures were able to tr ansmit C. minitans to uninoculated PDA plates through the survival of spores in faecal pellets. Adult and larval sciarids also transmitted C . minitans from PDA culture to uninoculated PDA plates by contaminatio n on the cuticle. In soil and sand both sciarids and collembolans were able to transmit C. minitans from C minitans-inoculated to uninoculat ed sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Inoculation of sclerotia wit h C minitans enabled greater populations of larger collembolans to dev elop. In the glasshouse where C. minitans had been applied to the soil , one adult sciarid and four collembolans out of 70 and 101 insects co llected respectively yielded C. minitans on placement onto PDA + Aureo mycin.