Pinewood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is listed as a quarantine pest in the legislation of more than 40 countries.The nematode density is usually too low in wood tissue for successful extraction and detection.As chemotaxis plays an important role in host, food, and mate location of nematodes during certain phases of theit life cycle, it is hopeful to apply the chemotactic response of PWN to special chemicals to increase the B.xylophilus density in the infested wood tissue for developing rapid sampling method.In the present study, a new convenient assay method for testing nematode chemotaxis in wood tissue was developed.Using this method,the attracting activity of volatile component β-myrcene, the volatile monoterpenes presenting pine,and a potential attractant to both dispersal and propagative larvae of PWN was firstly examined in the infested pine, Pinus massoniana, which is a dominant tree species in China.10-2 mol.L-1 β-myrcene solution is shown to significantly increase the density of B.xylophilus at 20℃ after a 1.5 h trapping period in natural infested wood based on SAS analysis.At last, a rapid β-myrcene assisted wood sampling method for PCR-based detection of B.xylophilus in P.massoniana wood tissue was firstly established in the present study.This should assist greatly in the detection of B.xylophilus at both ports-of-entry and forest habitats.