Incidence of Oscheius onirici (Nematoda: Rhabditidae), a potentially entomopathogenic nematode from the marshlands of Wisconsin, USA

Abstract

In a search for an entomopathogenic nematode to control cranberry insect pests, three Oscheius populations (Rhabditidae) were recovered through the Galleria-bait method from one sample taken in a wild cranberry marsh in Jackson County, Wisconsin, USA. Morphological studies with light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, as well as molecular analyses of the near-full-length small subunit rDNA gene, D2/D3 expansion segments of the large subunit rDNA gene, internal transcribed spacer, and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (CoxI) genes revealed this as Oscheius onirici, a species recently described from a karst cave soil of central Italy. The species belongs to the dolichura-group and is characterized by its DNA sequences; hermaphroditic reproduction; and males not found. A Bacillus-like bacterium appears to be associated with this nematode based on our microscopic and SEM observations; however its identity and persistent association with the nematode has not been confirmed. Nonetheless, this nematode is capable of infecting and killing the sparganothis fruitworm Sparganothis sulfureana Clemens (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), the brown-banded cockroach Supella longipalpa Fabricius (Blattodea: Ectobiidae), and the cranberry fruitworm Acrobasis vaccinii Riley (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), under laboratory conditions, and each in less than 72 hr. The mealworm Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella Linnaeus (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), are also susceptible, but take 3.5 and 5.2 days to die, respectively. This species is a new potential bio-control agent on insects.

Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Oscheius saproxylicus sp. n. (Rhabditida, Rhabditidae) From Decaying Wood in Spain, With New Insights into the Phylogeny of the Genus and a Revision of its Taxonomy

“…Both morphological (Sudhaus and Hooper, 1994;Sudhaus, 2011) and molecular (among others Darby et al, 2011;Campos-Herrera et al, 2015;Torrini et al, 2015;Lima de Brida et al, 2017;Ye et al, 2018) evidences support the monophyly of Oscheius, with two well-defined monophyletic subgroups among its species. A reasonable translation of these ideas to classification results in the maintenance of Oscheius as valid genus, with Dolichorhabditis as its junior synonym, and the proposal of two subgenera: Oscheius for the Insectivorus-group of species and Dolichorhabditis for the Dolichura-group of species.…”

“…cit.). Available molecular analyses (Ye et al, 2010(Ye et al, , 2018Darby et al, 2011;Campos-Herrera et al, 2015;Torrini et al, 2015;Tabassum et al, 2016;Lima de Brida et al, 2017;Valizadeh et al, 2017) have repeatedly confirmed the monophyly of both Insectivorus-and Dolichura-groups, and most of them agree that these groups are sister groups. Nevertheless, two contributions (Darsouei et al, 2014;Zhou et al, 2017) do not support this idea.…”

Description of Oscheius indicus n. sp. (Rhabditidae: Nematoda) from India

“…The forward and reverse sequences were manually edited for quality, aligned using ClustalW, and a consensus sequence was generated using BioEdit v.7.2.6 (Tom Hall, NCSU, USA). The phylogenetic analysis of the ITS and 28S D2/D3 sequences were carried out as described (Ye et al, 2018). In brief, the new and previously published sequences for each gene were aligned using ClustalW in MEGAX (Kumar et al, 2018) with default parameters.…”

Evaluation of indigenous entomopathogenic nematodes in Southwest China as potential biocontrol agents against Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

“…More than a dozen EPN species in two families (Heterorhabditidae and Steinernematidae) have been commercialized for use in biological control ( Shapiro-Ilan et al, 2018 ). Apart from Heterorhabditis and Steinernema , recently, several species from Oscheius were confirmed as EPNs ( Castro-Ortega et al, 2020 ; Ye et al, 2018 ).…”