AUSTRALIA — Pine Wilt Disease is a disease of pine trees. …The problem involves three bodies: a nematode, a fungus and a beetle. The nematode is a tiny roundworm only one millimetre long. It’s called Pine Wood Nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus). It causes Pine Wilt Disease. When Pine Wilt Nematode is carried to a pine tree by a beetle, it feeds on cells inside the tree and multiplies very rapidly. Billions of nematodes — and the tree’s response to them — prevent water flow, causing the tree to wilt and die. …Trees killed by the nematodes are attractive to several species of beetles, which breed inside the damaged tree. The nematodes gather in the breeding chambers of the beetles, attach to the bodies of the beetles, and travel with them to new host trees. Dr Dan Huston… and his colleague, Dr Mike Hodda wrote the National Diagnostic Protocol for Pine Wood Nematode.