The nematode Steinernema kraussei (Steiner) was rediscovered in the type locality near Neuenherrsee in Westphalia, Germany. This isolate is morphologically identical with that described in 1923 by Steiner. Steiner's original description is completed by these main characters: the head with two circles of papillae, the labial bearing six and the cephalic four papillae; the excretory pore opening of adults is situated far in front of a nerve ring; the male tail has a fine mucron, spicules are on average 49 pm long in first generation, their manubrium having the ratio length to width 1:1 ; spicule retinaculum is usually well developed, gubcmaculum varies in its shape, but mostly is boat-shaped with hooked proximal part. Infective juveniles are 797 to 1102 pm long and their lateral fields have 8 ridges, but the central pair is less distinct and sometimes tends to merge into one unpaired ridge. Since S. kraussei is the oldest, and now the most completely described nematode species in the genus Steinernema, it has to be considered as the type species of this genus. The living culture is presently maintained in several laboratories and all formerly and future described similar species should be compared with this nematode.