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No description available.

Nematodes of the genus Phasmarhabditis (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) are world-wide distributed molluscs´ parasites. Species P. hermaphrodita is the only commercially produced bio-agent for slug control. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate some ecologic characteristics of three newly described species of the genus Phasmarhabditis (P. bohemica, P. bonaquaense a P. apuliae) in polyxenic and monoxenic cultures. Three bacterial isolates, Pseudomonas sp., Acinetobacter sp. and Flavobacterium sp. were chosen for testing the monoxenic cultures. The growing ability of tested nematodes, the effect on the quality of progeny and the rate of development were examined on various organic substrates (compost, faeces of Deroceras slugs, homogenized Deroceras slugs, homogenized larvae of Galleria mellonella and homogenized pig kidney). Subsequently, the growth of nematodes was tested in solid and liquid media. The last experiment was focused on evaluating the impact of polyxenic and monoxenic nematode cultures on the mortality and feeding activity of Deroceras reticulatum and Cepaea hortensis. As is assumed in the results chapter, all examined species of nematodes are lethal facultative parasites of Deroceras spp. They are able to grow in broad spectre of organic substrates and bacteria which influence the production of the progeny, but the qualitative parameters of dauer juveniles remain more or less unaffected.