Two new species of Steinernema Travassos, 1927 with short infective juveniles from Nepal.

During a survey conducted in 2007 in Nepal, two new species of entomopathogenic nematodes, Steinernema nepalense sp. n. and Steinernema surkhetense sp. n. were recovered from soil samples collected in Itahari, Sunsari and Birendranagar, Surkhet, respectively. The infective juveniles of S. nepalense sp. n. are recognised by body length 479 (424-513) mu m, pharynx length 38 (32-46) mu m, tail length 53 (48-61) mu m, H% = 63 (52-71) and E% = 71 (58-87). The lateral field pattern is 2, 7, 8, 6, 5, 4, 2. The males have slender, well curved yellowish-brown spicules (71 (56-78) mu m) and 25 genital papillae. The infective juveniles of S. surkhetense sp. n. can be recognised by the body length averaging 415 (393-450) mu m, pharynx length 32 (28-34) mu m, H% = 57 (44-73) and E% = 72 (54-84). The lateral field pattern is 2, 8, 7, 5, 2. The males have well curved brownish spicules (70 (58-78) mu m) with thin velum and 23/25 genital papillae. The analysis of ITS-rDNA sequences places both species in the `carpocapsae-scapteriscitami' group.