Re-description of two species of Pelodera (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) from India

Abstract

Two species of Pelodera Schneider, 1866, reported for the first time from India, have been redescribed and illustrated. Pelodera teres Schneider, 1866 is characterised by oviparous females having prominent, separate lips; heavily cuticularised, refractive labial margins with fine bristles in inter-labial grooves; three setose denticles on each metastegostomal plate; cupola-shaped tail in females and males with crystalline needle-like structures in vas deferens; distally fused spicules and an open peloderan bursa with three pre-cloacal and seven post-cloacal bursal papillae. Pelodera icosiensis (Maupas, 1916) Dougherty, 1955 is characterised by ovoviviparous females having wider and offset lip region, swollen pharyngeal corpus and hemispheroid tail of nearly half anal body diameter, males with distally-fused spicules having bicuspid capitula, and a short, expanded, semicircular, anteriorly-closed, peloderan bursa with lobes and ten paired bursal papillae.