Efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes present in Việt Nam against brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) under laboratory conditions

The brown marmorated stink bug ( ), a native of Asia, has become an invasive pest in North America and Europe. Given the severity of and the need for better and environmentally-friendly control methods for this pest, we evaluated the virulence four entomopathogenic nematode species ( , and ) that occur naturally in soils in southern Việt Nam and compared them with that of a commercially available strain of . We report for the first time the pathogenicity of towards BMSB. The commercial strain of was most virulent against BMSB. However, the strain of isolated from soil in southern Việt Nam has potential for the biological control of this pest. To achieve this potential, further work is needed including evaluation in the field and with the formulation of the nematode inoculum.