295 - Attack of the Zoospores! Discovery of a new Pythium species infecting mosquito larvae in Lee County

At the Lee County Mosquito Control District in Lehigh Acres, FL samples of wild larval populations are routinely brought into the Field Validation department to rear for insecticide resistance testing. In the fall of 2021, while inspecting a larva under a dissecting microscope, an oddity was found growing on its cuticle. One year later, in the fall of 2022, we finally got an answer. A novel species of water mold in the genus Pythium was infecting, and in the case of Psorophora columbiae killing, wild larvae around Lee County. Through collaborative work with the University of Florida Microbiology department, we are working to learn more about this pathogen and will soon publish our earliest findings.