Description of two new species of Scutellonema Andrassy, 1958 (Hoplolaimoidea: Nematoda)

Scutellonema conicaudatum sp. n. and S. conicephalum sp. n. are described from Tamil Nadu, India. S. conicaudatum can be distinguished by its hemispherical narrow head and tapering conoid, rounded tail. It resembles S. unnum Sher, 1963 but differs in having only six longitudinal striations on basal annule instead of 16–22, more posteriorly located excretory pore, absence of epiptygma and intestine not overlapping rectum. S. conicephalum has a truncate conical lip region with three annules. It differs from closely related species, S. truncatum Sher, 1963, by the presence of lip annules, epiptygma, more posterior excretory pore, rounded tail, and absence of longitudinal lines at the base of lip region. It can be distinguished from S. brabanum Khan, Sana & Chawla, 1980 by the oval-shaped stylet knobs with indented interior surface, presence of epiptygma and areolation at the region of phasmids.