Morphometric data of four Steinernema rarum strains from Buenos Aires Province

Abstract

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) of the family Steinernematidae Travassos, 1927 are lethal obligate parasites of insects that establish a mutualistic relationship with bacteria of the genus Xenorhabdus (Poinar, 1979, Lis et al., 2021). More than 100 Steinernema species have been recovered and described from soils worldwide except for Antarctica. In Argentina, since the 1980s, surveys have been conducted to detect EPNs across different agroecosystems and natural environments. These studies led to the detection and identification of several isolates of known Steinernema species (S. diaprepesi, S. carpocapsae, S. feltiae, S. glaseri, S. scapterisci), as well as to the description of two new species (S. rarum and S. ritteri) (Caccia et al., 2017; San Blas et al., 2019; Puza et al., 2025). Here, we contribute with morphometric data of four strains of Steinernema rarum (DV, SAL, TL and MA). All measurements are in micrometers unless otherwise specified.