Schistonchus macrophylla (Nematoda: Aphelenchoididae): an enigmatic taxon from sycones of Ficus section Malvanthera in eastern Australia, with description of a new subspecies

Abstract

Summary Over a period of 15 years, Schistonchus was collected from sycones of Ficus subgenus Urostigma section Malvanthera in eastern Australia, and was found to occur widely. Here, Schistonchus macrophylla macrophylla is redescribed from F. macrophylla and F. superba, and a new subspecies, Schistonchus m. lightfooti subsp. n., from F. rubiginosa and F. superba. Schistonchus m. lightfooti subsp. n., is characterised by having a long post-vulval uterine sac (PUS) with thickened walls and a narrowly rounded or pointed distal tip, procorpus which is usually longer than the stylet length, pyriform metacorpus, trapezoid-shaped head capsule, papillae arranged as one large pair adcloacal, a large pair at mid-tail length, and a small pair near the tail tip, no caudal alae, and a spatulate tail tip in females; and was collected from Sydney in New South Wales (NSW) to southern Queensland. Schistonchus m. macrophylla is characterised by having a procorpus shorter than or equal to the stylet length, an ovoid metacorpus, rectangular-shaped head capsule, long PUS with thickened wall only at its distal tip, caudal alae, and papillae arranged as one pair precloacal, one small pair adcloacal, and a large pair at mid-tail length. It was collected in NSW.