Description of Ruehmaphelenchus fujiensis n. sp. (Tylenchomorpha: Aphelenchoididae) isolated from dead wood of Quercus crispula from Yamanashi, Japan

Abstract

Summary Three undescribed Ruehmaphelenchus species were isolated from dead wood of Quercus crispula collected in three different localities in Japan. One of these three species was successfully cultured using Botrytis cinerea as its food fungus and is described and figured as R. fujiensis n. sp. The new species is characterised by the following features: male tail, conical with or without a projection; female tail, conical with variously shaped terminal mucron or projection; and male spicule possessing a relatively long and triangular condylus. The new species is close to, or almost a cryptic species of R. digitulus, i.e., the typological characters and morphometric values of these two species are mostly overlapping. In a molecular phylogenetic relationship inferred from near-full-length small subunit (18S) and D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit (28S) of ribosomal RNA, the new species is close to R. asiaticus, R. digitulus, R. formosanus, and Ruehmaphelenchus sp. NKZ202; however, it was clearly separated from these species.