Morphometrics of Infective Juveniles of Steinernema spp. and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Nemata: Rhabditida)
Nguyen, K.B.; Smart, G.C.
Journal of Nematology 27(2): 206-212
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-300X PMID: 19277281 Document Number: 441520
Selected morphometrics of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and seven species of Steinernema from in vivo culture were compared in relation to time of harvest. In addition, five Steinernema species were reared in vitro and their morphometrics were compared with those from in vivo culture. With in vivo culture, there was generally a negative linear relationship between body length of infective juveniles (IJ) and time of harvest. The distance from the anterior end to the excretory pore (EP) and the tail length (T) of IJ also varied with time of harvest. The E percentage (= EP/T x 100) was the least variable. Body lengths of IJ reared in vitro were much less than those of IJ reared in vivo. The study suggests that IJ harvested from in vivo culture within 1 week of emergence from cadavers are best for species identification. Infective juveniles from in vitro culture should not be used for species identification.