Heterorhabditis beicherriana  Li, Liu, Nermut, Puza & Mracek, 2012

Summary -  A new heterorhabditid nematode was recovered in orchards in the Beijing area. Morphological and molecular data confirmed this nematode as a new species, which belongs to the bacteriophora-group with sister taxa Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and H. georgiana. The nematode was named H. beicherriana n. sp. and is characterized by males, hermaphrodites, females and infective juveniles. In males the peloderan bursa is characterized by the formula 1 2 3 3, spicule length 45 (41–51) μm. Male body length is substantially higher than that of H. bacteriophora and H. georgiana (1028 μm vs 820 and 838 μm, respectively). In hermaphrodites there are six labial and six cephalic papillae; the vulval pattern is smooth, rounded or slightly elliptical. Tail is conoid with a moderately prominent post-anal swelling slightly longer than anal body width. In females vulval lips are non-protruding, tail conical without or with a slightly developed post-anal swelling, about twice as long as anal body width. In infective juveniles, the body is elongate, slender and straight when heat-killed, on average 639 μm long, which is longer than in H. bacteriophora (558 μm) and H. georgiana (598 μm), respectively. Heterorhabditis beicherriana n. sp. is further characterized by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and D2D3 rDNA sequences, the most similar species, H. georgiana, being separated by 21 bp across 994 bp of the ITS and 3 across 890 bp of the D2D3 region. ITS and D2D3 regions of H. beicherriana evolved five and one autapomorphies, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses placed H. beicherriana n. sp. as a member of the bacteriophora-group.