Schistonchus zealandicus n. Sp. (Nematoda: Aphelenchoididae) associated with Ficus macrophylla in New Zealand

Abstract

Schistonchus zealandicus n. sp. was recovered from the sycones of Ficus macrophylla from St Helier’s Bay, Mt Wellington, and St Johns, suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand. It is characterised by having the opening of the excretory pore located just posterior to the anterior end of the nematode but anterior to the conus level of the stylet, a short post-vulval uterine sac (10-18 μm or 0.4-0.7 vulval body diam. long), presence of two incisures in the lateral field with many broken, non-defined lines between them, rose-thorn-shaped spicule, three pairs of subventral papillae on the male tail (one pair adcloacal on the anterior lip, one pair slightly posterior to mid-tail length, and one pair close to tail tip), a distinctive mucron on the male tail, apparent biogeographical range, and its association with F. macrophylla. The absence of a lip sector disc suggests that it is close to S. altermacrophylla, S. aureus and S. laevigatus. Molecular phylogeny of near full length small subunit and D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit rRNA genes supports the proposal of S. zealandicus n. sp. as a new species.