Description of Meloinema odesanens sp. n. (Nematoda: Heteroderidae) from Korea

Abstract

High infection rates of Liriodendron tulipifera L. feeder roots and soil by a new species of Meloinema were found during a nematode survey in the Odae Mountain area of the Gwangweon Province of the Korean Peninsula. Morphometric observations made by light and scanning electron microscopy showed that the specimens differed clearly from the known Meloinema species. Therefore a new species is described and illustrated herein, and is named as M. odesanens n. sp. It is characterized by: long pharyngeal glands largely overlapping the intestine in all developmental stages and an excretory pore position consistently mid-way between the basal stylet knobs and median bulb. As Meloinema odesanens n. sp., posses the generic characteristics referred to above, marked sexual dimorphism, sexual dimorphism in the position of the excretory pore, the presence of head plates, the structure of the lateral field, the posterior position (about 90%) of the vulva in adult females, and the presence of two functional gonads, becomes the forth species of the genus Meloinema Choi et Geraert, 1974, Choi Y.E., 1981. A number of characters readily differentiate the new species from M. kerongense, M. silvicolum, M. maritimum and M. chitwoodi. Roots infected by M. odesanens n. sp. show small swellings (2.5 times the diameter of uninfected roots) at its feeding sites.