ABSTRACT
Various stages of many turfgrass insect pests are naturally infected by a variety of insect pathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoans, and nematodes. The close association between soil-dwelling pests and microbes seems to have led to a high number of diseases associated with those insects [4]. As result of their coevolution with these organisms, soil-dwelling pests appear to have developed varying degrees of resistance to generalist pathogens, but some specifi c species and strains of pathogens have overcome host defenses and proven effective as microbial control agents of soil-dwelling pests [5]. Several of these pathogens have already been developed into microbial control products for turfgrass insect pests or are being investigated to these ends. In fact, the milky
disease bacteria, Paenibacillus (=Bacillus) popilliae and P. lentimorbus were the fi rst commercial microbial control products in the United States, and were used in augmentative releases to suppress Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, populations in turfgrass starting in 1948.
