Steinernema arasbaranense sp. n. (Nematoda: Steinernematidae), a new entomopathogenic nematode from Arasbaran forests, Iran

Abstract

A new species of entomopathogenic nematode, collected in 2007 from Arasbaran forests, near the Kerengan village, East Azarbaijan Province, Iran, is described herein as Steinernema arasbaranense sp. n. The new species can be separated from all the described species in the affine/intermedium group by having eight ridges in the lateral fields of infective juveniles, mucron in both generation males (except for the second generation males of S. sichuanense) and a hole-like structure at the spicule tip. It differs from S. affine by having infective juveniles with longer tail (84 vs 66 μm) and absence of the internal tail spine. The new species can be distinguished from S. intermedium by the longer tail of the infective juveniles (84 vs 64 μm) and shorter spicules of males (75 vs 93 μm), and separated from S. sichuanense by the shorter pharynx of infective juveniles (112 vs 131 μm) and presence of a mucron in the first generation male. DNA sequencing of the rDNA ITS regions revealed a unique sequence in S. arasbaranense sp. n., which clustered with species in the affine/intermedium group but which clearly differs from these species.