Crypticola clavulifera gen. et sp. nov. and Lagenidium giganteum: oomycetes pathogenic for dipterans infesting leaf axils in an Australian rain forest.

The isolation of two entomopathogenic fungi from Forcipomyia marksae larvae collected in leaf axils of Colocasia macrorrhiza in northeastern Queensland rain forests is reported. An oomycete, in which the zoospores complete their development wholly within the sporangium and are discharged through a short papillar extension, is described as a new genus and species, Crypticola clavulifera. A strain of the well-known oomycete, Lagenidium giganteum, was isolated from F. marksae--the first record of this fungus infecting a member of the Ceratopogonidae. The pathogenesis and zoosporogenesis of the two fungi in mosquito and ceratopogonid larvae are described.