On the species status of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne ulmi Palmisano & Ambrogioni, 2000 (Nematoda, Meloidogynidae)

By

Ahmed, Mohammed
Vossenberg, Bart T. L. H. van de
Cornelisse, Chris
Karssen, Gerrit

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2013

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

362

Pages

1-27

Subjects

esterase , Italy , Japan , LSU rDNA , malate dehydrogenase , Malus prunifolia , Mierenbos , Morphological , morphometrics , SSU rDNA , Ulmus chenmoui

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.362.6352

 

Abstract

The root-knot nematode Meloidogyne ulmi is synonymised with Meloidogyne mali based on morphological and morphometric similarities, common hosts, as well as biochemical similarities at both protein and DNA levels. M. mali was first described in Japan on Malus prunifolia Borkh.; and M. ulmi in Italy on Ulmus chenmoui W.C. Cheng. Morphological and morphometric studies of their holo- and paratypes revealed important similarities in the major characters as well as some general variability in a few others. Host test also showed that besides the two species being able to parasitize the type hosts of the other, they share some other common hosts. Our study of the esterase and malate dehydrogenase isozyme phenotypes of some M. ulmi populations gave a perfectly comparable result to that already known for M. mali. Finally, phylogenetic studies of their SSU and LSU rDNA sequence data revealed that the two are not distinguishable at DNA level. All these put together, leave strong evidences to support the fact that M. ulmi is not a valid species, but a junior synonym of M. mali. Brief discussion on the biology and life cycle of M. mali is given. An overview of all known hosts and the possible distribution of M. mali in Europe are also presented.