Abstract: In order to identify the autophagy in Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, research on the relationship between autophagy and the different virulence and development of B. xylophilus was carried out in this paper. Transmission electron microscopy(TEM)method was used to identify autophagy in B. xylophilus, and quantitative reverse transcription PCR(qRT-PCR)was adopted to quantify the BxAtg1 and BxAtg8 at different virulence and at different stages of the development of B. xylophilus. The results from TEM observations showed that the process of autophagy existed in B. xylophilus after starvation-induced. The mRNA expression of BxAtg1 was decreased in different virulence nematodes which exposed to long-term starvation for 12, 24 and 36 h. The mRNA expression of BxAtg8 in strongly virulent nematodes was increased in 24 h, but the mRNA expression of BxAtg8 in weakly virulent nematodes was obviously increased in 36 h. And there was increment of both the mRNA expression of BxAtg1 and BxAtg8 in J_Ⅲ and J_Ⅳcompared to the propagtive form of B. xylophilus. Compareing to the morphological characteristics of the different development of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. These suggest that the mechanism of autophagy activity regulating may be related to the virulence of nematodes and autophagy assisted the nematodes in entering dispersal phase, which improved their ability to adapt to the environment at the same time. This study provided fundamental information the autophagy of B. xylophilus.