Pratylenchus smoliki, a new nematode species (Pratylenchidae: Tylenchomorpha) from the Great Plains region of North America

Authors

Thomas Powers, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Timothy Todd, Kansas State University
Tim Harris, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Rebecca Higgins, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Ann MacGuidwin, University of Wisconsin- Madison
Peter Mullin, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Mehmet Ozbayrak, Bornova Plant Protection Research Institute
Kirsten Powers, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kanan Sakai, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

Date of this Version

2021

Citation

DOI: 10.21307/jofnem-2021-100

Comments

© 2021 Authors. This is an Open Access article licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Abstract

Pratylenchus smoliki is a new species of root-lesion nematode described from corn-soybean production fields in the Central Great Plains of North America. It is characterized by populations with relatively abundant males, two lip annuli, females with a round functional spermatheca and a conoid to subcylindrical tail with a non-crenate, smooth terminus. In host preference tests, corn and wheat produce the largest nematode populations, whereas sorghum and soybeans produce less than 20% the numbers observed on corn. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that the en face patterns compare to those seen in Pratylenchus pseudocoffeae, P. scribneri, P. hexincisus, and P. alleni. The pattern is described as rectangular to trapezoidal subdorsal and subventral lips adjoining oral disc, but with a clear demarcation between the oral disc and the subdorsal and subventral sectors. A Maximum Likelihood COI tree recognizesP. smoliki as a moderately-well-supported clade with several haplotype subgroups. A Maximum Likelihood partial 28S tree provides strong support for the P. smoliki clade and reinforces the close relationships between species with similar en facepatterns. Topotype specimens of P. alleni were demonstrably different from P. smoliki using DNA markers. The geographic range of P. smoliki overlaps with the ranges of P. alleni, P. scribneri, P. neglectus, P. hexicisus, and P. dakotaensis. The observed host range (corn, rye, sunflower, and wheat) suggests that P. smoliki may be native to the tallgrass prairie region of the Great Plains.