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Lineages of insect pathogenic fungi are concentrated in three major clades: Hypocreales (several genera), Entomophthoromycota (orders Entomophthorales and Neozygitales), and Onygenales (genus Ascosphaera). Our review focuses on aspects of the evolutionary biology of these fungi that have remained underemphasized in previous reviews. To ensure integration with the better-known domains of insect pathology research, we followed a conceptual framework formulated by Tinbergen, asking complementary questions on mechanism, ontogeny, phylogeny, and adaptation. We aim to provide an introduction to the merits of evolutionary approaches for readers with a background in invertebrate pathology research and to make the insect pathogenic fungi more accessible as model systems for evolutionary biologists. We identify a number of questions in which fundamental research can offer novel insights into the evolutionary forces that have shaped host specialization and life-history traits such as spore number and size, somatic growth rate, toxin production, and interactions with host immune systems.

Chalkbrood and stonebrood are two fungal diseases associated with honey bee brood. Chalkbrood, caused by Ascosphaera apis, is a common and widespread disease that can result in severe reduction of ... La ascosferiosis (o cría yesificada) y cría de piedra son dos enfermedades fúngicas asociadas con la cría de la abeja melífera. La ascosferiosis, causada por el hongo Ascosphaera apis, es una enfer... 白垩病和曲霉病是蜜蜂幼虫相关的真菌病，白垩病由蜜蜂球囊菌Ascosphaera apis引起，分布较广，可造成工蜂羽化数量和蜂群生产力的急剧下降。蜜蜂曲霉病由Aspergillus spp.引起，由于较少观察到，所以其对蜂群健康状况的影响研究的不够深入。蜜蜂中Aspergillus引起之所以引起关注，是因为风媒分生孢子，这种孢子可通过吸入引起人肺组织的多种疾病，如过敏性支气管曲菌病，肺曲菌球...

Increased production of insects on a large scale for food and feed will likely lead to many novel challenges, including problems with diseases. We provide an overview of important groups of insect pathogens, which can cause disease in insects produced for food and feed. Main characteristics of each pathogen group (viruses, bacteria, fungi, protists and nematodes) are described and illustrated, with a selection of examples from the most commonly produced insect species for food and feed. Honeybee and silkworm are mostly produced for other reasons than as human food, yet we can still use them as examples to learn about emergence of new diseases in production insects. Results from a 2014 survey about insect diseases in current insect production systems are presented for the first time. Finally, we give some recommendations for the prevention and control of insect diseases.

Parasites represent a severe threat to social insects, which form high‐density colonies of related individuals, and selection should favour host traits that reduce infection risk. Here, using a carpenter ant (Camponotus aethiops) and a generalist insect pathogenic fungus (Metarhizium brunneum), we show that infected ants radically change their behaviour over time to reduce the risk of colony infection. Infected individuals (i) performed less social interactions than their uninfected counterparts, (ii) did not interact with brood anymore and (iii) spent most of their time outside the nest from day 3 post‐infection until death. Furthermore, infected ants displayed an increased aggressiveness towards non‐nestmates. Finally, infected ants did not alter their cuticular chemical profile, suggesting that infected individuals do not signal their physiological status to nestmates. Our results provide evidence for the evolution of unsociability following pathogen infection in a social animal and suggest an important role of inclusive fitness in driving such evolution.