A curious nematode, Diploscapteroides persicus n. sp. (Nematoda: Rhabditida: Rhabditomorpha), from Iran with a note on the status of the male genital papillae

Abstract

Diploscapteroides persicusn. sp. is described and illustrated based on morphological, morphometric and molecular data. The new species is mainly characterised by female body length of 469-673 μm, female tail length of 51-99 μm, shape of gubernaculum and spicules and arrangement of male genital papillae. Also, the arrangement of male genital papillae of the new species shows the presence of precloacal papillae, a feature that has not been previously described for the genus. The new species is comparable with all valid species of the genus, namelyD. boettgeri,D. brevicauda,D. chitinolabiatus,D. coroniger,D. dacchensisandD. flexuosus, from which the morphological comparisons of the new species with aforementioned species are discussed. Phylogenetic analyses using partial sequences of SSU and LSU rRNA genes were performed for the new species, being the first representative of the genus to be phylogenetically studied using both Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods, and revealed thatD. persicusn. sp. formed a clade with a species ofCephaloboides.