Molecular and morphometric characterisation of Xiphinema globosum Sturhan, 1978 (Nematoda: Longidoridae) from Spain.

During a recent nematode survey in natural environments of the Los Alcornocales Regional Park narrow valleys, viz., the renowned 'canutos' excavated in the mountains that maintain a humid microclimate, in southern Spain, an amphimictic population of Xiphinema globosum was identified. Morphological and morphometric studies on this population fit the original and previous descriptions and represent the first report from Spain and southern Europe. Molecular characterisation of X. globosum from Spain using D2-D3 expansion regions of 28S rRNA, 18S rRNA and ITS1-rRNA is provided and maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analysis were used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within X. globosum and other Xiphinema species. A supertree solution of the different phylogenetic trees obtained in this study and in other published studies using rDNA genes are presented using the matrix representation parsimony method (MRP) and the most similar supertree method (MSSA). The results revealed a closer phylogenetic relationship of X. globosum with X. diversicaudatum, X. bakeri and with some sequences of unidentified Xiphinema spp. deposited in GenBank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]