HomePlant DiseaseVol. 104, No. 1First Report of the Suginami Root-Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne suginamiensis, Infecting Maple Trees, Acer palmatum, from Japan PreviousNext DISEASE NOTES OPENOpen Access licenseFirst Report of the Suginami Root-Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne suginamiensis, Infecting Maple Trees, Acer palmatum, from JapanJ. F. Gu, Y. W. Fang, and L. L. LiuJ. F. Gu†Corresponding author: J. F. Gu; E-mail Address: jeffgu00@qq.comhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-8514-813XNingbo Customs Technical Centre (Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Science Technology Academy), Ningbo 315100, Zhejiang, ChinaSearch for more papers by this author, Y. W. FangNingbo Customs Technical Centre (Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Science Technology Academy), Ningbo 315100, Zhejiang, ChinaSearch for more papers by this author, and L. L. LiuNingbo Customs Technical Centre (Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Science Technology Academy), Ningbo 315100, Zhejiang, ChinaSearch for more papers by this author AffiliationsAuthors and Affiliations J. F. Gu † Y. W. Fang L. L. Liu Ningbo Customs Technical Centre (Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Science Technology Academy), Ningbo 315100, Zhejiang, China Published Online:6 Nov 2019https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-07-19-1386-PDNAboutSections ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailWechat Thousands of maple trees (Acer palmatum Thunb.) are imported from Japan to the port of Ningbo, China, each year since 2012. In 2018, during an inspection for plant-parasitic nematodes, around 100 s-stage juveniles (J2) of root-knot nematodes were extracted from soil (200 g) surrounding the roots of one of the 18 trees using a modified Baermann funnel. The roots were washed, and small round galls occurring in groups in close proximity were observed on roots with a dissecting microscope. Female root-knot nematodes excised from galls were white, globular to pear-shaped, with projecting neck, slightly flattened to round posteriorly, and without a posterior protuberance. The perineal pattern of females was slightly square to oval, with wavy and very fine, thin striae. The body length and tail of the J2 (n = 25) were 380 to 436 μm and 20.8 to 27.3 μm, respectively. Tail length/tail diameter (c′) = 2.7 to 3.7. Tail conoid and short, deeply constricted, usually one-third of tail length from a broad terminus, and 3.2 to 5.2 μm hyaline region. These morphological characteristics were similar to those of Meloidogyne suginamiensis Toida and Yaegashi, 1984 (Toida and Yaegashi 1984). M. mali Itoh, Ohshima & Ichinohe, 1969 was also reported on maple from Japan, but it could be separated by its oval outline, smooth striae of the female perineal pattern, and longer J2 tail length (30 to 40 μm) with finely rounded almost pointed terminus. The morphological identification was confirmed by sequence analysis of the region between the cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII) gene and the 16S ribosomal RNA gene in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) with primers C2F3 (5′-GGTCAATGTTCAGAAATTTGTGG-3′) and 1108 (5′-TACCTTTGACCAATCACGCT-3′) (Powers and Harris 1993). The PCR product of mtDNA was 536 bp long and analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism with the following restriction enzymes: AluI, BclI, DdeI, DraI, EcoRI, HindIII, HinfI, MsoI, MseI, SspI, StyI, and VspI. The result was identical to a previous report for M. suginamiensis (Orui 1998). Soil samples were collected for a pot experiment to confirm the nematode’s ability to reproduce on maple. Three maple trees were planted in infested soil and grown for 1 year. Galls, eggs, females, and juveniles were detected in all trees and identified as M. suginamiensis. To our knowledge this is the first report of M. suginamiensis on maple from Japan. M. suginamiensis was first reported on mulberry (Morus spp.) from Japan in 1984; its hosts include woody plants like mulberries, fig (Ficus carica L.), elm (Ulmus spp.), raspberry (Rubus spp.), and cherry (Prunus spp.), and also some weeds and vegetables. This species has only been reported from Japan. The mtDNA and rDNA sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos.: COII, MN115432; 18S, MN101829 to MN101832; ITS, MN101821 to MN101828; 28S, MN101833 to MN101838), which will benefit identification worldwide.The author(s) declare no conflict of interest.