BACTERIAL SYMBIONTS OF STEINERNEMA-SCAPTERISCI

We isolated bacteria from Steinernema scapterisci cultured in the laboratory either in vivo or in vitro and collected from two field locations. The bacteria were identified by gas-liquid chromatography of their fatty acid methyl esters using the MIDI Microbial Identification System. The bacteria clustered into three groups. All but one strain in one group were identified as Ochrobactrum anthropi; the odd strain was identified as Paracoccus denitrificans . A second group was identified as Xanthomonas maltophilia . A third group, although identified by the MIDI system as different genera and species, were shown by dendrogram cluster analysis techniques to be in the same genus and perhaps divided into four species. We consider all members of the third group to be in the genus Xenorhabdus. Copyright © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.