Morphological and molecular phylogenetic description of Steinernema batswanae n. sp. (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae): a new species of an entomopathogenic nematode from South Africa

The collection of samples from a bushveld area in Brits, North West Province South Africa yielded a discovery of a possible new Steinernema species. Galleria mellonella larvae were used to bait the nematode from the soil. The 18S ribosomal DNA was amplified and subsequent Sanger sequencing placed the new species in the genus Steinernema. The morphological studies of the novel species Steinernema batswanae was done with the identification of the morphological characters: third-stage infective juvenile with the body length of 975 mu m (862-1120), the length from the head to the excretory pore 115 mu m (88-142) and the tail length of 19 mu m (10-38). The body length of infective juveniles is similar to S. jefferyense. Steinernema species that are characterized as belonging to the glaseri-group have infective juveniles larger than 900 mu m in length. In addition, the new species is different from other species in the glaseri-group in terms of the ITS region of its 18S rDNA.