Insecticidal effect of the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis megidis (Nematoda: Heterorhabditidae) baited from the soil on the larvae of Monochamus alternatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)

Abstract

To scout for an entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) that effectively controls the pine sawyer beetle, Monochamus alternatus Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), we screened EPNs from soil samples using M. alternatus larvae as bait. A population of the nematode obtained was named isolate SOz01, and molecularly identified as Heterorhabditis megidis Poinar, Jackson and Klein (Nematoda: Heterorhabditidae). In the inoculation test of the infective juveniles (IJs) of SOz01 onto mature larvae of M. alternatus under laboratory conditions, a mortality of 86–100% occurred when more than 20 IJs were inoculated. Even when the larvae were inoculated with only five IJs, one-third of them died. This finding suggests that H. megidis SOz01 has a strong insecticidal effect on M. alternatus.