Steinernema sayeedae Sp. N. a Heat Tolerant EPN from Banana Rhizosphere of Koshambhi District, U.P. India

Steinernema sayeedae sp.n.,a heat tolerant epn collected and isolated from soil of banana rhizosphere of Koshambhi district, U.P. India is characterized by very small IJS, lessrer than 400 μm,female body length ranges between 1970-1452 um but giant forms are much larger than other species in the genera. Boat shaped gubernaculum with a beak like extension in the proximal part in males. Body cylindrical shape in 3^rd stage juveniles, bacterial pouch 50-70 μm long only containing symbiotic bacteria. It is also characterized by having small sized body, absence of perioral disc. It is reproductiviely isolated from closely related species. S.sayeedae comes close to S.masoodi, Ali, et al., but differs in having smaller body, lesser number of genital papillae (vs genital papillae 17 in S.masoodi). It differs from S.diaprepesi, Nguyen and Duncan, in the absence of mucron in first generation of females, whereas it is present in both the generations of female.