The Biology and Culture of Neoaplectana chresima, a New Nematode Parasitic in Insects

Abstract

A few years ago a number of corn earworms (Heliothis armigera) near Moorestown, New Jersey, were found dead and dying from a condition which on examination proved to be due to nematode parasitism.2 Later the present writers found the same nematode parasitic in Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) larvae. From 1937 to 1940 this parasite was found among the beetle larvae in 14 places distributed among 9 counties of New Jersey and in one locality in Maryland. In all these places this nematode seemed to represent the only helminth parasite present and was apparently causing a considerable reduction in the host population. Specimens of the nematode were submitted to G. Steiner of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, who stated that the form represented a new species of the genus Neoaplectana. He will shortly publish a description of this and other new species and a key to all known forms of the genus Neoaplectana. Steiner furnishes the following diagnosis which is published here with his permission, the name of the species being derived from the Greek word xpatica mleaning useful. Neoaplectana chresima Steiner