An insect parasitic nematode belonging to the genus Oscheius was recovered from the agricultural soils from the Hapur district in western Uttar Pradesh, India. Morphological studies on this species exhibited its high resemblance with two Pakistani species: Oscheius siddiqii and O. niazii. No molecular data are available for these taxa but, morphologically, both species do not differ significantly from our strains and each other. Hence, these nematodes can be considered conspecific, and the correct name for this taxon is O. siddiqii, the first described species. The phylogenetic analyses of the ITS-, 18S-, and the 28S rDNA sequences showed that O. siddiqii is a sister taxon to the group formed by Oscheius microvilli, O. myriophilus, O. safricanus, and several unidentified Oscheius species. Additionally, our analyses show that based on molecular and morphological data, the species Oscheius rugaoensis and O. microvilli cannot be distinguished from O. chongmingensis and O. myriophilus, respectively, and are thus considered junior synonyms of these taxa. Furthermore, the available data are not sufficient to evaluate the status of Oscheius basothovii and O. safricanus, which are, in consequence, considered species inquirendae. These findings highlight the necessity of the proper morphological and molecular characterisation of the described Oscheius species.

Biology Centre Institute of Entomology Czech Academy of Sciences Branišovská 31 370 05 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Departamento de Biología Animal Biología Vegetal y Ecología Universidad de Jaén Avenida de Ben Saprut s n 23071 Jaén Spain

Department of Zoology Government Degree College Uttersoo Anantnag 192201 India

Experimental Biology Research Group Institute of Biology Faculty of Science University of Neuchatel Rue Emile Argand 11 2000 Neuchatel Switzerland

Nematology Laboratory Department of Zoology Chaudhary Charan Singh University Meerut 250004 India

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