Abstract
Hemicycliophora ahvasiensis n. sp., recovered from the rhizospheric soil of date palm in Khuzestan province, southwest Iran, is described and illustrated based upon morphological, morphometric and molecular data. The new species is characterized by its sheath, closely fitting most of the body, cuticle with or without numerous irregular lines, sometimes appearing as blocks in distal body region. Lateral field without discrete longitudinal lines, but often with continuous broken striae or anastomoses. Continuous lip region with single annulus, slightly elevated labial disc, stylet with posteriorly sloping knobs. Vulva with or without slightly modified lips, spermatheca with sperm and tail conoid, symmetrically narrowing at distal region to form a narrow conical region. Morphologically, the new species looks similar to H. indica, H. labiata, H. siddiqii, H. tenuistriata and H. typica. The latter species appears more similar to the new species under light microscopy, but could be separated using the scanning electron microscopy and molecular data. The new species was also compared with H. epicharoides and H. dulli, two species with close phylogenetic affinities to it. The phylogenetic relationships of the new species were reconstructed and discussed using partial sequences of the D2-D3 expansion segments of large subunit, and internal transcribed spacer regions (LSU D2-D3 and ITS rDNA). Hemicycliophora conida, the second studied species, was recovered from north Iran and characterized by morphological and molecular data.
Highlights
In their excellent contribution to the systematics of the superfamily Hemicycliophoroidea Skarbilovich, 1959 (Siddiqi, 1980), Chitambar and Subbotin (2014) reviewed the taxonomy of the genus Hemicycliophora (De Man, 1921) and updated data of the currently valid species
In an effort to document Hemicycliophora species occurring in Iran, two populations were recovered from soil samples obtained from different geographical lo cations in northern and southern regions
The preliminary morphological studies revealed the po pulation recovered from south Iran resembled H. typica de Man, 1921 under light microscope (LM), but further studies using scanning electron microscopic (SEM) and molecular data, and comparisons with all known species of the genus, revealed it to be an unknown species, described as H. ahvasiensis n. sp
Summary
In their excellent contribution to the systematics of the superfamily Hemicycliophoroidea Skarbilovich, 1959 (Siddiqi, 1980), Chitambar and Subbotin (2014) reviewed the taxonomy of the genus Hemicycliophora (De Man, 1921) and updated data of the currently valid species. From Iran: Azimi et al.1984 and H. vaccinii Reed & Jenkins, 1963 All of these species were characterized using traditional taxonomic methods (Eskandari, 2018). The preliminary morphological studies revealed the po pulation recovered from south Iran resembled H. typica de Man, 1921 under light microscope (LM), but further studies using SEM and molecular data, and comparisons with all known species of the genus, revealed it to be an unknown species, described as H. ahvasiensis n. The second species recovered from north Iran belonged to H. conida Thorne, 1955
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