EntomoFun 1.0: A global database of entomopathogenic fungi and associations with their hosts

Pathogens significantly influence natural and agricultural ecosystems, playing a crucial role in regulating species populations and maintaining biodiversity. Entomopathogenic fungi (EF), particularly within the Hypocreales order, exemplify understudied pathogens that infect insects and other arthropods globally. Despite their ecological importance, comprehensive data on EF host specificity and geographical distribution have been lacking. To address this, we present EntomoFun 1.0, an open-access database centralizing global records of EF-insect associations in Hypocreales. This database includes 1,791 records detailing EF species, insect host taxa, country of occurrence, life stages of hosts, and information sources. EntomoFun 1.0 is constructed from over 600 literature sources, as well as herbarium specimens of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. This database is intended for testing hypotheses, identifying knowledge gaps, and stimulating future research. Contents of the EntomoFun 1.0 database are partly visualized with a global map, taxonomic chart, graphs, and a bipartite community network. An interactive map with geographic distributions of the considered species can be consulted here: https://srbdts.github.io/entomofun.html

Methods
Data was collected from literature, with additions from herbarium specimens, through methods described according to the manuscript submitted to Scientific Data.