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Summary: A new species of Coslenchus from north-western Iran is illustrated and described using morphological, morphometric and molecular data. Coslenchus persicus n. sp. is characterised by a medium-sized body of 694-810 μ m, often 18 (seldom 20-22) longitudinal ridges excluding lateral field, head with four distinct annuli, stylet 9.6-10.8 μ m long, pharyngeal basal bulb large and cylindrical, spermatheca offset and ovate, without sperm, vulval flaps extending for two annuli, 5-7 μ m in length, tail striated with finely to bluntly rounded tip, 110-153 μ m long and without males. The new species comes close to C. assamensis , C. diversus , C. japonicus , C. leiocephalus , C. maritus , C. multigyrus , C. paramaritus , C. pastor , and C. polonicus , but can be distinguished from all by differences in body length, stylet length and shape of basal bulb, post-vulval uterine sac, tail and certain morphometric data. Molecular data are provided for the characterisation of the new species using ribosomal genes (18S and 28S rRNA). In the 18S rRNA tree, the new species was placed in a clade including one isolate of Coslenchus sp. from Iran. In the reconstructed 28S rRNA phylogenetic tree, C. persicus n. sp. clustered with other known Coslenchus species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesocriconema abolafiai n. sp. is described by morphological, morphometric, and molecular approaches. The new species is characterized by a body slightly curved with 402 to 612 μ m length, 90 to 113 cuticular body annuli with smooth to irregular margins lacking of crenation with not more than one anastomoses, lip region not offset, small flattened submedian lobes, stylet robust (52.8-60.0 μm) with well-developed knobs, open vulva with simple anterior lip, straight vagina, filled spermatheca with globular sperms, presence of males, and conical-acute tail with last annulus bilobed or rounded. Discussions are made on the characterization of M. abolafiai n. sp. from the most closely related species, M. ozarkiense, and several other species having similar tail shape. Furthermore, results of phylogenetic analyses inferred from D2 to D3 expansion fragments of 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and ITS rRNA gene sequences revealed the phylogenetic position of the new species within representatives of Criconematidae and supported morphological justifications for considering this population from Iran as a new species in the genus Mesocriconema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The second population of Pratylenchoides riparius , including females and males, is described and illustrated based upon morphological, morphometric and molecular data. The present population from Iran is characterised by some differences with the type population of the species from Hungary in stylet length (24-26 vs 21-22 μ m), slightly longer body (1002-1230 vs 830-960 μ m), pharynx (202-211 vs 182-190 μ m) and tail (64-85 vs 48-57 μ m), areolated outer bands of the lateral field (vs non-areolated), widening of the lateral field near tail terminus (vs lateral incisures connecting each other) and presence of males (vs absent). The taxonomic status of the species with regarding the data from the type and presently recovered population, as well as the closely similar species is discussed. The newly recovered population was studied based upon its molecular phylogenetic charactes using the D2-D3 of 28S rRNA and the partial 18S rRNA gene sequences and the results revealed that it forms a clade with P. magnicauda in 28S, but occupies a distant placement from it in 18S phylogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coslenchus paramaritus n. sp. and C. cancellatus were identified based on morphological, morphometric, and molecular characteristics. The new species, C. paramaritus n. sp., is characterized by its cuticle with 18 longitudinal ridges excluding lateral lines, wide cuticular annuli (2.6-3.0 µm), a long tail (94-128 µm), the presence of males and the absence of sexual dimorphism in head shape. Molecular phylogenetic studies of the new species using D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA revealed that the new species formed a sister clade with three unknown populations of Coslenchus in Bayesian inference (BI) phylogeny, while C. cancellatus formed a sister clade with other Coslenchus species including C. oligogyrus, C. franklinae, C. costatus, C. turkeyensis and three unknown populations. C. cancellatus is recovered from Iran for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]