Metarhizium rileyi

Metarhizium rileyi is a species of entomopathogenic fungus in the family Clavicipitaceae. This species is known to infect Lepidoptera, including economically important insects in the Noctuoidea and Bombycoidea; there is an extensive (pre 2014) literature on this fungus under its synonym Nomuraea rileyi.

Importance
In sericulture, the term "green muscardine" has been used for fungal infections of silkworms caused by M. rileyi.

M. rileyi has been considered as a potential mycoinsecticide for use against several noctuid insect pests. Blastospores of M. rileyi can be produced easily in liquid media: but conidia are preferred for practical field use. For laboratory purposes, these can be produced, expensively, on Sabouraud’s maltose agar supplemented with 1% yeast extract, but the use of grain substrates is preferred for mass production.