**4. Conclusions**

Despite there are several commercial mycoinsecticide against major insect pests of agricultural products, exploration to native entomopathogenic fungi in each region may contribute to represent isolates or species with environmental and host adaptations. These adaptations may ensure virulence, environmental persistence and the least non-target effects of native isolates when they are used in field scale. The overall results of our study revealed the isolates of *B. bassiana,* including BBRR1, BBAL1 and BBLN1, were the most virulent and environmental adaptive isolates among the fungi associated with *C. suppressalis* based on bioassay, biochemical traits and thermal experiments. These isolates should undergo further studies considering field trials on the target pest and some predators and parasitoids of rice fields to better elucidate their role in pathogenesis.

**Author Contributions:** Methodology, investigation and writing M.S.; conceptualization, methodology and validation A.Z.; resources and data curation, S.A.K.; conceptualization and resources M.F.-D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was supported by a gran<sup>t</sup> from the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) No. 96005511.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank Hassan Hoda for his assistance in insect rearing and the collection of some specimens.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
