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The recent invasion of the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in northern Italy offered the opportunity to explore the entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) associated with the soil of hay meadows.A total of 61 sites were considered for nematode sampling, and from 17 of them (27.9%) EPNs were isolated and further characterized with molecular and morphological techniques as well as with laboratory bioassays.Two main species, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar (Rhabditida: Heterorhabditidae) and Steinernema carpocapsae Weiser (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) were recorded with the same frequency together with a few other species (Rhabditida: Oscheius sp. and Phasmarhabditis sp.).The newly isolated EPN populations were characterized for their activity (penetration rate) and infectivity to P. japonica grubs.EPNs occurrence was related to the time of beetle invasion at each sampling site and there was evidence of a density‐dependent response of the EPNs community to P. japonica density.The invasion of P. japonica apparently did not significantly affect the occurrence of native grubs, although a tendency to a decline was observed and should be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first detection of Meloidogyne graminicola in Piedmont, North Italy, in 2016, further inspections for the presence of the rice root‐knot nematode were carried out in rice fields of neighboring regions, in accordance with the Italian NPPO (National Plant Protection Organization) to support the official phytosanitary measures, to enable the early detection of the rice pest, and to prevent its spread within the national territory. In 2018, surveys of rice fields in Lombardy region revealed a new occurrence of M. graminicola. In the present study, we confirmed the identification of the rice nematode in Lombardy using the ribosomal ITS region and the mitochondrial COI and COII genes. The sequences and phylogenetic analyses revealed that Lombardy M. graminicola population grouped in all trees in the main cluster containing Meloidogyne species belonging to graminis group, but always in a different subgroup compared to the Piedmont population of M. graminicola. These results clearly suggest that the two Italian populations have been recently and independently introduced and confirm that the geographic origin is not the main factor leading to M. graminicola population variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]