Morphological and molecular characterisation of Aphelenchoides primadentus n. sp. (Nematoda: Aphelenchoididae) from northern Iran

Abstract

Aphelenchoides primadentusn. sp. is described and illustrated based on its morphological, morphometric and molecular characters. It was recovered from natural forests of northern Iran in association with mosses. The new species is characterised by its body length of 502-613μm in females and 461-564μm in males, presence of three lines in the lateral fields, a low lip region slightly offset by a shallow depression, 11.1-13.8μm long stylet in females, its conus being longer than the shaft (m = 53.0-68.5) and bearing well-developed, rounded basal knobs, the excretory pore located atcaone body diam. posterior to the metacorpus, a conical tail with a multipapillate terminus or with a single, warty, wide mucron-like structure at the tip, and males with 19-22μm long arcuate spicules that lack a well-developed condylus and rostrum. The new species was morphologically compared with species of the genus having three lines in the lateral field and a multipapillate tail tip or tail with warty mucron, namelyA. iranicusandA. heidelbergi. Compared toA. ensete,A. huntensisandA. gorganensis, three species with a multipapillate tail tip or warty mucron at the tail tip, the new species has a basic difference in the number of lines in the lateral field and, compared to two species,A. composticolaandA. petersi, which have three lines in the lateral field and a similar overall morphology, the new species has basic differences in tail tip morphology. The results of phylogenetic analyses using partial sequences of ribosomal small subunit RNA (SSU) and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COImtDNA) genes revealed there is currently no sequenced species of the genus phylogenetically close to the new species being sequenced for these two genomic and non-genomic regions. The new species forms a clade withA. ritzemabosiin SSU, and three other species,A. besseyi,A. ritzemabosiandA. fujianensis, in theCOItree.