Abstract: The emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), is native to northeast Asian countries, including Russian Far East. It has not been paid much attention previously as an unimportant pest in its native range. Thus, it is not on the high-risk watch lists of any country in the world. But it has caused serious damage both to forests and ecological landscapes, as well as huge economic losses since it invaded the USA and Canada at the early 21st century, and has since then become the most destructive invasive forest insect pest to North America. As a highly concealed wood-boring pest, the early detection is difficult in local habitats. Usually the pest population has established for some years when it is discovered in certain site so that the eradication strategy is almost impossible. A classical biological control program has been implemented immediately in the USA after the confirmation of the emerald ash borer as an exotic species from Asia. Three parasitic insect natural enemies, Spathius agrili Yang (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and Oobius agrili Zhang & Huang (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), have been imported into the USA from China, through an international cooperative study. The populations of the three parasitoid species have already established successfully after release in the field in USA, and played increasingly important roles in suppression of the emerald ash borer. In this paper we reviewed the biological control progress of the emerald ash borer in over decade recently in order to provide some useful implications for similar studies in our country.

Key words: Agrilus planipennis (emerald ash borer), quarantine insect pest, biological control