Steinernema kraussei (Steiner, 1923) (Rhabditida, Steinernematidae) from Iceland.

A Survey of soils front Iceland for the presence of cold-active entoniopathogenic nematodes yielded a single isolate of Steinernema kraussei. This isolate wits compared morphologically with the topotype from Westphalia, Germany, and was found to be similar except that the strain from Iceland had shorter mucrons and it longer gubernaculum in second-generation males. A fragment of the ribosomal DNA (internal transcribed spacer 1 [ITS 1] + 5.8S + ITS2) wits amplified and sequenced along with 7 other isolates of S. kraussei, 2 isolates front Switzerland, 1 isolate from Scotland, and 4 isolates from Russia. Phylogenetic trees prepared using maximum parsimony methods placed the strain from Iceland ill a cluster with 2 Russian strains. The virulence of S. kraussei front Iceland against larvae of Tenebrio molitor was compared with thin of a commercially available strain of Steinernema feltiae at 12degreesC and 4degreesC. At 12degreesC the strain front Iceland Wits less virulent than S. feltiae, and at 4degreesC the strain from Iceland demonstrated no detectable virulence, whereas S. feltiae evinced limited virulence.