A new species of Dorylaimus Dujardin, 1845 (Nematoda: Dorylaimidae) from West Bengal, India

Abstract

A small population of Dorylaimus bengalensis sp. n. was collected from the soil around the roots of guava at South 24-Parganas district, West Bengal, India. Dorylaimus bengalensis sp. n. is characterized by its unique body length (2.8-3.5 mm), which shows similarity only with D. geraerti Baqri et Jana, 1986. In the genus, the body length of the longest females ranges between 6.5 and 7.5 mm (D. gigas Kleynhans, 1970) and that of the smallest species is 2.2 mm (D. siddiqii Ahmad et Jairajpuri, 1982) or 2.3 mm (D. carinatus Thorne et Swanger, 1936). The minimum and maximum body lengths of females of all other species vary between 3.1 and 6.4 mm, except D. thornei Andrassy, 1969 (2.7-2.8 mm). The males of D. bengalensis sp. n. are characterized by the number and arrangement of ventro-median supplements with an adanal pair. The new species comes closest to D. geraerti Baqri et Jana, 1986 but can be differentiated by different body ratios (a, c, and c’), tail length, spicule length and different number and arrangement of ventro-median supplements. A single female specimen of the proposed new species had an abnormal short tail.