Reassessing the Diversity of the Arthropod-Pathogenic Genus Pandora Batko (Entomophthoromycotina; Erynioideae)
, Andrii P. Gryganskyi 2, Svetlana Y. Gouli 3, Tonya D. Bittner 1, Cheryl F. Sullivan 3 and Bruce L. Parker 3Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsAccording to the Zoological nomenclature, Family names are not italicized only genus and species names should be italicized. Errors that are picked up are highlighted and comments are given.
The introduction does not have a clear research question
The materials and methods are incomplete as they do not describe how the distribution maps were created and how the taxonomy for the species was done in the results section.
A map to show the samples in this study were collected is recommended
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
None
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 1,
According to the Zoological nomenclature, Family names are not italicized only genus and species names should be italicized. Errors that are picked up are highlighted and comments are given.
We have removed italics from higher level names of insects but this is only a rule for zoological nomenclature. Rules for fungal taxonomy are based on botanical nomenclature. In botanical nomenclature, there is no rule about italics or not for higher level taxa. The authors of this paper prefer use of italics for higher level taxa of fungi and have used this in previous publications, so we are retaining this.
The introduction does not have a clear research question
This has now been added; Reviewer 3 also requested this.
The materials and methods are incomplete as they do not describe how the distribution maps were created and how the taxonomy for the species was done in the results section.
A map to show the samples in this study were collected is recommended
For P. sylvestris, this fungus was collected at both locations (dots) on the map and this is now stated in the figure legend. For P. gloeospora, we have now shown in the inserted map (red star), exactly where the isolate that was sequenced was collected.
We also went through the file that was attached and incorporated all of those changes.
We also attach the improved manuscript with track changes.
Respectfully,
Ann Hajek and Andrii Gryganskyi om behalf of all authors.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis is a decent paper, overall. I have no real concerns with the science on my end, only minor edits.
Should lines 9-10 say: “The fungal order Entomophthorales occurs worldwide, with most species infecting arthropods as pathogens.”? Or do these fungi infect the pathogens of arthropods?
L 72 and throughout paper: Make sure all species names are italicized
L 99 and 242: 4 °C and 90°, respectively
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageNo issues
Author Response
This is a decent paper, overall. I have no real concerns with the science on my end, only minor edits.
Should lines 9-10 say: “The fungal order Entomophthorales occurs worldwide, with most species infecting arthropods as pathogens.”? Or do these fungi infect the pathogens of arthropods?
Great suggestion. Done.
L 72 and throughout paper: Make sure all species names are italicized
Done. We were totally unaware that some names had lost italics when moving the text around. Great comment!
L 99 and 242: 4 °C and 90°, respectively
Done.
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsIn the paper “Reassessing Diversity of the Arthropod-Pathogenic Genus Pandora Batko (Entomophthoromycotina; Erynioideae)” the authors describe a new species of Pandora that was discovered causing epizootics in larvae of outbreaking (i.e., high density) Lophocampa caryae populations in Vermont (2011) and Michigan (2016). Please see below my few comments:
Lines 62 – 68: Please explain in detail your hypothesis and predictions. You need to expand this section if you would want to express exactly what you want to do.
Line 84: P. sylvestris in italics.
Line 98: Quercus rubra in italics.
Lines 89 – 90: I think that you should add these two references to support your sentence: “Cadavers were collected and conidia were showered onto lids of petri dishes where they were measured.”. I would like to suggest:
Bosso, L., et al., (2012). Severe outbreak of Fusarium solani on Quercus ilex vectored by Xylosandrus compactus. Journal of Plant Pathology, 94(4).
Acosta, R. I. T., et al., (2016). Zoophthora radicans (Entomophthorales), a fungal pathogen of Bagrada hilaris and Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae and Triozidae): prevalence, pathogenicity, and interplay of environmental influence, morphology, and sequence data on fungal identification. Journal of invertebrate pathology, 139, 82-91.
Line 107: I think that you should add these two references to support your sentence: “ITS primers were ITS1F [14] and ITS4 [15].”. I would like to suggest:
Ihrmark, K., et al., (2012). New primers to amplify the fungal ITS2 region–evaluation by 454-sequencing of artificial and natural communities. FEMS microbiology ecology, 82(3), 666-677.
Line 257: Please add the north symbol and the scale in the map.
Line 258: P. gloeospora in italics.
Line 276: Please add the north symbol and the scale in the map.
Lines 318 – 372: The discussion is poor written! The authors should discuss their results comparing them with other results already published. Please, check the Latin name. I suggest to expand the discussion.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageModerate editing of English language required.
Author Response
In the paper “Reassessing Diversity of the Arthropod-Pathogenic Genus Pandora Batko (Entomophthoromycotina; Erynioideae)” the authors describe a new species of Pandora that was discovered causing epizootics in larvae of outbreaking (i.e., high density) Lophocampa caryae populations in Vermont (2011) and Michigan (2016). Please see below my few comments:
Lines 62 – 68: Please explain in detail your hypothesis and predictions. You need to expand this section if you would want to express exactly what you want to do.
We have added lines 69-72 to address this great suggestion.
Line 84: P. sylvestris in italics.
Done.
Line 98: Quercus rubra in italics.
Done.
Lines 89 – 90: I think that you should add these two references to support your sentence: “Cadavers were collected and conidia were showered onto lids of petri dishes where they were measured.”. I would like to suggest:
Bosso, L., et al., (2012). Severe outbreak of Fusarium solani on Quercus ilex vectored by Xylosandrus compactus. Journal of Plant Pathology, 94(4).
Acosta, R. I. T., et al., (2016). Zoophthora radicans (Entomophthorales), a fungal pathogen of Bagrada hilaris and Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae and Triozidae): prevalence, pathogenicity, and interplay of environmental influence, morphology, and sequence data on fungal identification. Journal of invertebrate pathology, 139, 82-91.
Done.
Line 107: I think that you should add these two references to support your sentence: “ITS primers were ITS1F [14] and ITS4 [15].”. I would like to suggest:
Ihrmark, K., et al., (2012). New primers to amplify the fungal ITS2 region–evaluation by 454-sequencing of artificial and natural communities. FEMS microbiology ecology, 82(3), 666-677.
Done.
Line 257: Please add the north symbol and the scale in the map.
Done.
Line 258: P. gloeospora in italics.
Done.
Line 276: Please add the north symbol and the scale in the map.
Done.
Lines 318 – 372: The discussion is poor written! The authors should discuss their results comparing them with other results already published. Please, check the Latin name. I suggest to expand the discussion.
We have added significantly to the Discussion and we feel that it is very much improved. We thank this reviewer for this suggestion as it has improved our paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorsfamily Entomophthoraceae, the subfamily Erynioideae are still in italics. Please correct and write them in normal font. Only species and genus are in italics
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We changed the manuscript's text and removed Italic formatting from the taxonomical names above the genus.
Andrii Gryganskyi, on behalf of all authors.
