Description of Pratylenchus platyceriumis sp. n. from the root and rhizosphere of Platycerium seedlings from Thailand

Summary A new species, Pratylenchus platyceriumis sp. n., was intercepted in the roots and rhizosphere of Platycerium spp. imported from Thailand. It is characterised by sexual adults with lip region containing two annuli, the lateral field with four equidistant lines, partially areolated, the female stylet (16.5-18.7 μ m) robust with broadly rounded knobs, V = (70.2-79.2), with a large oval spermatheca often full of sperm, tail subcylindrical to conoid, and terminus obliquely truncated to conical with variable mucrons or projections. Male spicules are arch-shaped, the gubernaculum trough-shaped, the tail conoid, with tip narrow and pointed and bursa striated instead of crenate. The new species is close to Pratylenchus coffeae , P. dakotaensis , P. goodeyi , P. gutierrezi , P. horti , P. morettoi , P. okinawaensis , P. panamaensis , P. pratensis , P. pseudocoffeae , P. speijeri , P. yamagutii and P. ventroprojectus , but different. Phylogenetic analyses using D2-D3 expansion domains of the 28S rRNA gene, the ITS region, the partial 18S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I ( COI ) gene confirm its classification as a new species.