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The identification of biological species in the genus Heterorhabditis (Nematoda: Heterorhabditidae) by cross-breeding second-generation amphimictic adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

I. Dix ,
A. M. Burnell ,
C. T. Griffin ,
S. A. Joyce ,
M. J. Nugent  and
M. J. Downes
I. Dix
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
A. M. Burnell
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
C. T. Griffin
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
S. A. Joyce
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
M. J. Nugent
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
M. J. Downes
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland
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Extract

Entomopathogenic nematodes of the genus Heterorhabditis are morphologically conservative, consequently the majority of isolates remain unassigned at the species level. When a Heterorhabditis infective juvenile infects an insect host, it develops into a protandrous hermaphrodite female. These first-generation females give rise to a second generation which contains both males and females. Because of this complex life-cycle and also because of uncertainty as to whether second-generation females are amphimictic, cross-breeding studies to facilitate species determination have not been carried out previously. We demonstrate here that second-generation Heterorhabditis females are amphimictic. Because of this finding, we have been able to develop a successful cross-breeding technique for the purposes of species determination in Heterorhabditis. Interstrain crosses using second-generation males and females from the appropriate strains have been successfully set up in Xenorhabdus luminescens-treated G. mellonella cadavers and also on agar plates. Using the techniques described here we confirm that H. bacteriophora (Brecon strain), H. megidis and H. zealandica are distinct biological species, we note that the H. bacteriophora group contains at least 2 species and we provide evidence for the existence of a new Irish species of Heterorhabditis.

Keywords

Heterorhabditisamphimicticcross-breedingbiological species
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 104 , Issue 3 , June 1992 , pp. 509 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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