Adult specimens of five little-known species of spiruridan nematodes (Spirurida) were collected during occasional examinations of some fishes from the Poonch River in Jammu and Kashmir, India: Procamallanus (Spirocamallanus) bilaspurensis Gupta et Duggal, 1973 in Mastacembelus armatus (Lacépède) (Mastacembelidae, Synbranchiformes), Rhabdochona (Rhabdochona) indica Moravec, Scholz, Ash et Kar, 2010 in Crossocheilus latius (Hamilton) (Cyprinidae, Cypriniformes), Rhabdochona (Rhabdochona) turkestanica (Skryabin, 1917) in Schizothorax richardsonii (Gray) (Cyprinidae, Cypriniformes) and both Rhabdochona (Rhabdochona) hospeti Thapar, 1950 and Rhabdochona (Globochona) cf. chodukini Osmanov, 1957 in Tor putitora (Hamilton) (Cyprinidae, Cypriniformes); besides these, unidentifiable physalopterid larvae were recorded from M. armatus and T. putitora. Their detailed light and electron microscopical studies revealed some taxonomically important, previously not observed features and made possible their redescription. Fourth-stage larvae of P. (S.) bilaspurensis and R. (R.) turkestanica are described for the first time. The latter is resurrected as an independent species. The following are considered to be species inquirendae: a total of nine poorly described species of Rhabdochona Railliet, 1916 from T. putitora in Balochistan, Pakistan, all listed in the monograph of Kakar et al. (2011), plus an additional 15 species of the genus reported from cyprinids and a catfish in the same region (Balochistan) by the same authors. Also three congeneric species from India (R. nemacheili Rautela et Malhotra, 1982, R. putitora Kaur et Khera, 1991 and R. tori Gupta et Srivastava, 1982) and one from Pakistan (R. charsaddiensis Siddiqi et Khattak, 1984) should be considered as species inquirendae due to their poor descriptions. The names of Rhabdochona putitori Anjum, 2013, R. indusi Soofi, Birmani et Dharejo, 2017 and R. sindhicus Soofi, Birmani, Dharejo, Abbasi et Ghachal, 2020 are invalid according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
Specimens of Neoechinorhynchus (Neoechinorhynchus) poonchensis sp. n. are described from Schizothorax richardsonii (Gray) in the Poonch River, Jammu and Kashmir. Specimens are thick-walled with dissimilar dorsal and ventral para-receptacle structures, anteriorly manubriated hooks, two giant nuclei in each lemniscus and many subcutaneousy. The lemnisci barely overlap the larger anterior testis, the cement gland has eight giant nuclei, and the seminal vesicle is large with thin walls. The vagina is unremarkable but the long uterus is made up of four specialised regions. Neoechinorhynchus rigidus (Van Cleave, 1928), resembles N. poonchensis sp. n. It is distinguished from N. poonchensis sp. n. by having smaller trunk, proboscis, and male reproductive structures, equal testes, unequal lemnisci with three giant nuclei each, and much larger anterior proboscis hook (130 μm in males) than that originally described by Van Cleave (1928) (70 μm in a female). Anterior hook length alone is sufficient to conclude that the N. rigidus of Datta (1937) is not the same species as the N. rigidus of Van Cleave (1928). Van Cleave's (1928) species remains valid and that of Datta (1937) is considered a different species named Neoechinorhynchus pseudorigidus sp. n., herein. Micropores of N. poonchensis sp. n. have variable distribution in different trunk regions and the Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis demonstrated higher levels of sulfur and lower levels of calcium and phosphorus. Sequences of the 18S rDNA gene from nuclear DNA, and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cox1) from mitochondrial DNA of N. poonchensis sp. n. were amplified and aligned with other sequences available on GenBank. Maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) analyses inferred for 18S rDNA and cox1 showed that N. poonchensis sp. n. was nested in a separate clade.