Morphological and molecular characterisation of Telotylenchus tamariscus n. sp. (Nematoda: Telotylenchinae) recovered from Khuzestan, south-western Iran.

Summary: An undescribed species from the rhizosphere of tamarisk, Tamarix passerinoides , Telotylenchus tamariscus n. sp., is illustrated and described based on morphological, morphometric and molecular approaches. The new species is characterised by female characters including body size of ca 1 mm, areolated lateral fields, cephalic region rounded, distinctly set off from the body contour, stylet 19.5 (18.5-20.5) μ m long with posteriorly directed basal knobs, pharyngeal glands overlapping intestine dorso-laterally, subcylindrical tail bearing 32 (25-37) cuticular annuli and ending in an annulated terminus, and male spicules and gubernaculum 27 (25-29) and 13 (12.5-14.5) μ m long, respectively. Morphologically, our population comes close to several known species of the genus, including T. avaricus , T. aerolatus , T. indicus , T. ventralis , T. paaloofi and T. namibiensis. In the 18S rRNA phylogenetic tree, it occupied a phylogenetic position in close affinity with two sequences of T. ventralis. In the 28S rRNA tree, the genus Telotylenchus did not form a monophyletic group, our isolate clustering with an unknown population of Histotylenchus and four isolates of Tylenchorhynchus mediterraneus in a clade well separated from another clade that included three other isolates tentatively named as Telotylenchus sp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]