Comparison of morphological characters of different populations of Longidorus africanus

Abstract

Longidorus africanus Merny, 1966 has been reported to be widely distributed in the USA in association with many kind of crops (Radewald et al., 1969). Lamberti (1969) showed that L. africanus caused stunting and distortion of the roots of lettuce, sorghum and sugar beet. In Coimbatore, South India, L. africanus caused damage to the commercially-grown flowering plant Crossandra unduIaefolia Salisb. Attacked plants had stunted root systems and growth of the plants was retarded. Measurements of L. africanus from Coimbatore were close to those of populations from Egypt, Israel and Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) (Table I). However, the lengths of the odontostyle and the odontophore were greater in the Coimbatore specimens than in the other three populations.