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Isolation of entomopathogenic nematodes from Mizoram, northeastern part of India includes a Heterorhabditis species never been recorded in India. The morphological and multigene (ITS rRNA, 28S rRNA and COI) sequences analysis had revealed that the isolated Heterorhabditis belongs to Heterorhabditis baujardi , originally described from Vietnam. The phylogenetic tree (both MP and ML) revealed that the H. baujardi belongs to H. indica clade, and further, forms a monophyletic clade (99/98% and 94/92% bootstrap support for ITS and 28S respectively) with H. amazonensis , H. floridensis , H. mexicana and H. taysearae forming H. baujardi sub clade. The multigene characterization revealed that both the ITS and 28S rRNA showed similar result in resolving the phylogenetic relationship of the genus Heterorhabditis , with the ITS rRNA being superior based on the strong bootstrap support, whereas, the cytochrome c oxidase I (M1-M6 partition) can be a good supportive tool for species delimitation. This is the first report of H. baujardi from India envisaging its future use as a biological control agent, and further incorporated into the IPM., Competing Interests: Compliance with ethical standardsWe wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication.

A survey was conducted to isolate indigenous EPN, specifically from the northeastern part of India, a biodiversity hotspot region, to record the occurrence and their further use as biological control agent. The morphological and molecular analysis (ITS rDNA for Steinernema and 16S rRNA for Xenorhabdus ) revealed that the entomopathogenic nematodes isolated from four different habitats and its symbiotic bacteria are conspecific with Steinernema sangi and Xenorhabdus vietnamensis respectively. The phylogenetic analysis based on maximum parsimony (MP) revealed that Steinernema sangi belongs to feltiae - kraussei - oregonense group. The study constitutes the first report of Steinernema sangi and its symbiotic bacteria Xenorhabdus vietnamensis outside the type locality, Vietnam, and in particular from India.