Abstract
A previously undescribed entomopoxvirus was isolated from the diseased larvae of the smaller tea tortrix, Adoxophyes sp., collected in tea gardens in Miyazaki Prefecture. The infected larvae showed external symptoms consisting of the whitening and swelling of the intersegmental membrane. Death occurred 24-32 days after infection. Oval inclusion bodies averaging 6.0×3.5μm were observed in the cytoplasm of cells of the fat body, midgut, muscle, and in blood cells of the diseased larvae, but not in the trachea, hypodermis, and silk gland cells. The oval virions with a beaded surface measured about 290×240nm, packing the inclusion bodies along with crystalline spindles of about 300×240nm in size. The entomopoxvirus found in the smaller tea tortrix was also infectious to other tortricid larvae such as Adoxaphyes orana fasciata, Archippus breviplicanus, Archips fuscocupreanus, and Homona magnanima, but not to Pandemis heparana and Epinotia ancyrota.
