Isolation and phenotypical identification of spore-forming Bacillus species from Jordanian habitats with larvicidal activity against Drosophila melanogaster.

Spore-forming Bacillus isolates were recovered from different Jordanian habitats. Of 37 samples, 187 colonies were selected. Forty-six (24.6%) of them were pathogenic to the third instar larvae of Drosophila melanogaster. Larvicidal activity of the isolates was from 0% (non-cultivated soil) to 83.3% (decomposed animal residues). The total spore count per gram weight varied from 0.1 x 10(5)-18 x 10(5) among the 37 tested samples. Morphological and microscopical identification of the isolates showed the presence of 16 different Bacillus species. The pathogenic isolates were B. thuringiensis (44) and B. sphaericus (2).