Metarhizium brunneum, is the re-instated name of a group of reassigned Metarhizium isolates, previously grouped in the species "Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae": based on a multigene phylogenetic approach using near-complete sequences from nuclear DNA. It is a mitosporic fungus with asexual reproduction, which was formerly classified in the form class Hyphomycetes of the form phylum Deuteromycota (also often called Fungi Imperfecti). M. brunneum has been isolated from Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and soil samples, but a commercially developed isolate (below) has proved virulent against Hemiptera and Thysanoptera.