New data on Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar, 1976 from south eastern Iran

During a survey on the entomopathogenic nematodes from Kerman province of Iran, three new populations of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora were recovered from natural areas. Description, measurement and illustration are provided for these isolates. Molecular analysis on ITS sequence of new isolates of H. bacteriophora set these populations close to a population from South Africa (EU700310). H. bacteriophora and H. georgiana formed a monophyletic group. This is the first data of ITS rDNA of H. bacteriophora from south eastern Iran (Kerman province). Analysis of Iranian H. bacteriophora showed that Kerman isolates place close to Mashhad isolates.