A new beneficial nematode from South Africa
A new beneficial entomopathogenic nematode collected from a sugarcane field located in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa was named as Steinernema sacchari (Nthenga et al., 2014). This new nematode was extracted from soil using larvae of sugar cane borer, Eldana saccharina as baits. This nematode was considered as a new species because of its both the morphological and molecular characteristics were different from the same characteristics of already described species of Steinernematid nematodes. For morphological comparisons between Steinernema sacchari and already described species of Steinernema, total length, tail length, a ratio, H%, E%, and the lateral field patterns of infective juveniles, spicule and gubernaculum lengths, D% and GS% of first generation males, and morphology of vulva of first generation females was measured. For molecular comparisons between Steinernema sacchari and already described Steinernema species, ITS and D2D3 regions nematode DNA were analyzed. This molecular data shows that this new beneficial nematode species is closely related to Cameroonnian clad containing Steinernema cameroonense and Steinernema nyetense that are also closely related to the feltiae-kraussei-oregonense Clade III (Nthenga et al., 2014). Since Steinernema sacchari nematodes are isolated from sugarcane fields, they may be infecting and killing the soil-dwelling stages of many different insect pests of sugarcane. White grubs are one of the most damaging pests of sugarcane can serve as a susceptible host for this new nematode species. For detailed morphological measurements and molecular analysis read following research paper.
Research Paper
Nthenga, I., Knoetze, R., Berry, S., Tiedt, L.R. and Malan, A.P. 2014. Steinernema sacchari n. sp (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae), a new entomopathogenic nematode from South Africa. Nematology 16: 475- 494.