Morphological and molecular characterisation of Longidorus patuxentensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Longidoridae) from Maryland and California, USA

A new needle nematode species, Longidorus patuxentensis n. sp., was collected along the banks of the Western Branch Patuxent River from Upper Marlboro, MD, USA, and described herein. Female body length of the new species ranges from 3.8 to 5.2 mm, with a set off lip region by depression, 77-92 μm long odontostyle, 40-53 μm long odontophore, vulva located at 46.3-50.1% and tail conoid with bluntly rounded tip. The new species has four juvenile developmental stages and no males. It looks morphologically similar to L. breviannulatus, L. elongatus, L. martini, L. americanus, L. grandis, L. sabalanicus and L. sturhani by having a ventrally curved to spiral body, generally similar lip region and conoid tail with a rounded terminus, but differs from these species by the odontostyle, odontophore, total stylet length and a few other characters. Phylogenetic analysis of the D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA gene sequences placed L. patuxentensis n. sp. in a clade with L. litchi, L. fangi, L. jonesi, L. diadecturus and Longidorus sp. The D2-D3 sequence of L. patuxentensis n. sp. was identical to that of Longidorus sp.5 collected from Juglans sp. growing in Butte County, California, USA. The D2-D3 of 28S and ITS1 rRNA and COI gene sequences indicated that the Maryland and California populations belong to the same species, described herein as L. patuxentensis n. sp.