Intra-Phenotypic and -Genotypic Variations of Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuill. Strains Infecting Aedes aegypti L. Adults

has potential for biological control. However, its efficacy depends on the strain's geographic location, host susceptibility, and virulence. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of strain BBPTG4 conidia in controlling adults and its detection via introns profile on exposed mosquito corpses. Morphologic characteristics among strains were highly similar. Comprehensive testing of these strains demonstrated that BBPT4 exhibited the ideal biological activity for control, with a median lethal time (TL ) of 7.5 d compared to ~3 d and ~10 d for BB01 and BB37 strains, respectively. Infected mosquitoes died after GHA and BBPTG4 exposure, and corpses were analyzed for infecting strains detection. Differences among the seven evaluated strains were determined, assessing five different insertion group I intron profiles in BBTG4, BB01, GHA, BB37, and BB02 strains. Mosquitoes infected by BBPTG4 and non-exposed (negative control) intron profiles were obtained. We detected the presence of introns in the BBPTG4 strain, which were not present in non-exposed mosquitoes. In conclusion, strains showed similarities in terms of their cultural and microscopic morphological characteristics and biologicals virulence level, but different intron profiles. BBPTG4 strain-infected adult corpses, showing specific amplicons, enabled us to identify at the strain level among infected mosquitoes. However, monitoring and detection of field-infected insects is essential for further verification.