Nematode Parasites of Insects of Andhra Pradesh, India

During the course of faunistic surveys in Andhra Pradesh from April 1998 to December 2002, a lota! of 671 insects belonging 14 species under five orders have been examined, of which 128 insects comprising of four species were found to be infected with twelve species of nematode parasites. Of these, four species of parasitic nematodes, namely, Hammerschmiduella desingi (Hammerschmidi, 1838) Chitwood, 1932, Cawieronia biovata Basir, 1948, Gryllophila skrjahini (Sergiev, 1923) Basir, 1956 and G. basin Parveen and Jairajpuri, 1981, under the family Thclaslomatidac are dealt herein with detailed descriptions and measurements. These are being recorded for the first time from Andhra Pradesh. The occurrence of different nematodes species in insect hosts of the Stale arc also communicated hereunder.