Entomopathogenic fungi, widely distributed in nature, have been developed as biopesticides of agricultural pests. However, little is known about isolation method for obtaining a variety of highly virulent strains from the soil. In this work, the previously established method using mealworm (larvae of Tenebrio molitor) as a baiting system was used to efficiently isolate fungal strains from soil, and the isolated fungal library in Korea was established. To isolate entomopathogenic fungi, soil samples from 10 regions of Korea such as Iksan, Imsil, Gunsan, Yeosu, Suncheon, Gwangyang, Jinju, Hamyang, Boseong and Jangseong were collected. Of the collected soils, 21 and 34 isolates of entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from Iksan and Gunsan, respectively. The isolates were classified as genera of Metarhizium, Beauveria and Isaria. This work can suggest an effective insect pathogenic fungal isolation method

• Seok Ju Lee(Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University)
• Jong Cheol Kim(Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University)
• Sihyeon Kim(Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University)
• Se Jin Lee(Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University)
• Mi Rong Lee(Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University)
• So Eun Park(Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University)
• Jae Su Kim(Department of Agricultural Biology, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University Plant Medical Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Korea)