Abstract
Many plant-parasitic nematodes including members of the genera Meloidogyne (root-knot nematodes), Heterodera and Globodera (cyst nematodes) and Pratylenchus (lesion nematodes) are studied as they cause major damage to crops such as potato, tomato, soybean and sugar beet. Both for fundamental reasons (Can we reconstruct the evolution of these parasites in the almost complete absence of fossil records?) and for practical reasons (Can we use phylogenetic data to detect specific parasitic species in pools of mainly harmless/beneficial nematodes?) it is important to get an insight into the relationship between these plant-parasitic nematodes and their fungivorous and bacterivorous relatives. In this chapter we will summarize and comment on the rapid increase of molecular (mainly ribosomal DNA) data published over the last decade. The greatest attention will be paid to the Tylenchomorpha (Clade 12), and the relationship within and between root lesion and root-knot nematodes (the genera Pratylenchus and Meloidogyne).
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