Lure and kill: A novel approach to controlling the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica)

The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) is a nemesis of agriculturists and home gardeners alike. Both chemical and mechanical methods are used in its control, with debatable success. We explored the possibility of developing a “lure and kill" strategy to control the adult Japanese beetle. In this approach, the adult beetles were attracted to a trap via the use of a beetle specific feeding lure and exposed to either entomopathogenic nematodes (Steinernema scarabaei) or entomopathogenic fungus (Beauveria bassiana) while in the trap. Treated beetles were removed from the traps and mortality was observed for the following seven days. The nematode treatment did not cause significantly higher mortality than the control treatment, and the fungus treatment was significant and caused approximately 70% mortality. We conclude that the delivery method is suitable for infecting adult Japanese beetles with B. bassiana, but more work needs to be done to find a better means of exposing adult Japanese beetles to entomopathogenic nematodes.