Bursaphelenchus sakishimanus n. sp. (Tylenchomorpha: Aphelenchoididae) isolated from a stag beetle, Dorcus titanus sakishimanus Nomura (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), on Ishigaki Island, Japan

Abstract

An undescribedBursaphelenchusspecies was isolated and cultured fromDorcus titanus sakishimanuscollected during a field survey of the insect-associated nematodes in subtropical Japan. The stag beetles were collected from Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan, and dissected to examine their nematode associates. Then the dissected bodies were individually transferred to 2.0% agar plates, and nematode propagation on the plates was periodically examined. Nematodes were first recovered from the agar plate,i.e., the number of nematodes carried by the beetle was low, and infection was not confirmed during dissection. The new species was morphologically and phylogenetically (on a molecular basis) close toB. gerberae, which was isolated from the palm weevil,Rhynchophorus palmarum(Curculionidae), from tropical America, and to other weevil-associatedBursaphelenchusspecies. However, the new species can be distinguished from its close relatives by its typological characters,e.g., long and slender female tail and male spicule morphology as well as phylogenetic status inferred from the near-full-length of the small subunit (SSU) of the ribosomal RNA gene. The new species is described and illustrated herein asB. sakishimanusn. sp. and its molecular profiles, near-full-length SSU, and D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit of ribosomal RNA are described. This is the secondBursaphelenchusspecies associated with stag beetles (Lucanidae).