A Charles Sturt University (CSU) team lead by award-winning researcher Associate Professor Gavin Ash has developed a novel approach to attacking exotic snails that devastate crop and pasture production across southern Australia. Professor Ash and his team have found a local nematode that injects itself into the snails and delivers a deadly bacterium that kills the snail and allows the nematode to feed on the decaying body. The round worm, from the Rhabditids group, was collected from soil near Wagga Wagga, NSW, and is endemic to Australia. They kill the common white snail, white Italian snail, conical snail and small conical snail within four to eight days of being introduced. “These pests are a significant threat to Australian grain exports. They feed on emerging crops, clog up farm machinery and contaminate harvested grain which puts our exports at risk due to quarantine problems,” Professor Ash said. Based on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, the research is funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.