Sand crickets (Gryllus firmus) have low susceptibility to entomopathogenic nematodes and their pathogenic bacteria.

The entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema scapterisci, a specialist parasite of crickets, has been successfully used to combat the southern mole cricket, Neoscapteriscus borellii, which is an invasive pest of turf grass. As an entomopathogenic nematode, S. scapterisci causes rapid death of the insects it infects and uses bacteria to facilitate its parasitism.

The insect pathogenic bacterium Xenorhabdus innexi has attenuated virulence in multiple insect model hosts yet encodes a potent mosquitocidal toxin.

Background: Xenorhabdus innexi is a bacterial symbiont of Steinernema scapterisci nematodes, which is a cricket-specialist parasite and together the nematode and bacteria infect and kill crickets. Curiously, X. innexi expresses a potent extracellular mosquitocidal toxin activity in culture supernatants.

Microbial associates of the southern mole cricket (Scapteriscus borellii) are highly pathogenic.

We report the isolation and identification of seven bacterial strains and one fungal strain from dead and diseased Scapteriscus borellii mole crickets collected from a golf course in southern California. Using 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequence analysis we identified the microbes as Serratia marcescens (red), S. marcescens (white), S.

Effects of Infection by Belonolaimus longicaudatus on Rooting Dynamics among St. Augustinegrass and Bermudagrass Genotypes.

Understanding rooting dynamics using the minirhizotron technique is useful for cultivar selection and to quantify nematode damage to roots. A 2-yr microplot study including five bermudagrass ('Tifway', Belonolaimus longicaudatus susceptible; two commercial cultivars [TifSport and Celebration] and two genotypes ['BA132' and 'PI 291590'], which have been reported to be tolerant to B. longicaudatus) and two St.

Induction of Systemic Acquired Resistance by Rotylenchulus reniformis and Meloidogyne incognita in Cotton Following Separate and Concomitant Inoculations.

Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) can be elicited by virulent and avirulent pathogenic strains and SAR against plant-parasitic nematodes has been documented. Our objective was to determine whether co-infection of cotton by Meloidogyne incognita and Rotylenchulus reniformis affects the population level of either nematode compared to infection by each species individually. Split-root trials were conducted in which plants were inoculated with i) R.