Abstract A survey of soils from Iceland for the presence of cold-active entomopathogenic nematodes yielded a single isolate of Steinernema kraussei. This isolate was compared morphologically with the topotype from Westphalia, Germany, and was found to be similar except that the strain from Iceland had shorter mucrons and a longer gubernaculum in second-generation males. A fragment of the ribosomal DNA (internal transcribed spacer 1 [ITS1] + 5.8S + ITS2) was amplified and sequenced along with 7 other isolates of S. kraussei, 2 isolates from Switzerland, 1 isolate from Scotland, and 4 isolates from Russia. Phylogenetic trees prepared using maximum parsimony methods placed the strain from Iceland in a cluster with 2 Russian strains. The virulence of S. kraussei from Iceland against larvae of Tenebrio molitor was compared with that of a commercially available strain of Steinernema feltiae at 12°C and 4°C. At 12°C the strain from Iceland was less virulent than S. feltiae, and at 4°C the strain from Iceland dem...