Description of n. sp. (Rhabditida: Panagrolaimidae), an Anhydrobiotic Nematode from the Namib Desert of Namibia.

n. sp. was recovered and cultured from soils collected under (pencil-bush) in the Namib Desert of Namibia, one of the driest terrestrial habitats on Earth.

Improved phylogenomic sampling of free-living nematodes enhances resolution of higher-level nematode phylogeny.

Background: Nematodes are among the most diverse and abundant metazoans on Earth, but research on them has been biased toward parasitic taxa and model organisms. Free-living nematodes, particularly from the clades Enoplia and Dorylaimia, have been underrepresented in genome-scale phylogenetic analyses to date, leading to poor resolution of deep relationships within the phylum.

Results: We supplemented publicly available data by sequencing transcriptomes of nine free-living nematodes and two important outgroups and conducted a phylum-wide phylogenomic analysis including a total of 108 nematodes.

Assessing the Role of Environmental Conditions on Efficacy Rates of Heterorhabditis indica (Nematoda: Heterorhabditidae) for Controlling Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) in Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Colonies: a Citizen Science Approach.

Certain species of entomopathogenic nematodes, such as Heterorhabditis indica Poinar, Karunakar & David, have the potential to be effective controls for Aethina tumida (Murray), or small hive beetles, when applied to the soil surrounding honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) hives. Despite the efficacy of H.

Evolution of Feeding Structures in the Marine Nematode Order Enoplida.

Marine nematodes of the order Enoplida may represent the earliest lineage of nematodes and have a variety of fixed and movable feeding structures in their stomas. This study used an 18S ribosomal RNA phylogeny of the orders Enoplida and Triplonchida (subclass Enoplia) to explore the evolution of these feeding structures in light of previous hypotheses based solely on morphology. The Enoplida and Triplonchida were found to be paraphyletic, as several taxa currently classified as Triplonchida, such as Rhabdodemania, were found to be part of the Enoplida clade.

Tegumental ultrastructure of adult Quinqueserialis quinqueserialis (Trematoda: Notocotylidae): an intestinal parasite of muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus).

Ten adult Quinqueserialis quinqueserialis specimens were removed from the intestine of a naturally infected muskrat, and scanning electron microscopy was used to study the morphological characteristics of the trematodes. The mature trematode, which was easy to recognize by the monostome holdfast organ, with no anterior cone, measured 2200-2500 μm in length by 900-1050 μm in width. The body was elongated and tapering at the anterior end, but the posterior end was rounded, and in some specimens was slightly truncated.

Untangling the Ecology, Taxonomy, and Evolution of Chaetogaster limnaei (Oligochaeta: Naididae) Species Complex.

Within Oligochaeta, Chaetogaster limnaei is unusual in exhibiting a parasitic relationship with freshwater pulmonate snails. Taxonomic confusion has been caused by differences in what have been considered 2 subspecies of this worm: Chaetogaster limnaei limnaei is an ectosymbiont and is present inside the mantle cavity of the snail, whereas Chaetogaster limnaei vaghini is parasitic and lives in the kidney of the snail. This study explored the distribution of these annelids in central New York and used mitochondrial DNA sequence data from the COI locus to examine the relationship, evolution, and species status of the ectosymbiotic and parasitic forms of C.

Using mitogenomic and nuclear ribosomal sequence data to investigate the phylogeny of the Xiphinema americanum species complex.

Nematodes within the Xiphinema americanum species complex are economically important because they vector nepoviruses which cause considerable damage to a variety of agricultural crops. The taxonomy of X. americanum species complex is controversial, with the number of putative species being the subject of debate.

Nematode small subunit phylogeny correlates with alignment parameters.

The number of nuclear small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences for Nematoda has increased dramatically in recent years, and although their use in constructing phylogenies has also increased, relatively little attention has been given to their alignment. Here we examined the sensitivity of the nematode SSU data set to different alignment parameters and to the removal of alignment ambiguous regions. Ten alignments were created with CLUSTAL W using different sets of alignment parameters (10 full alignments), and each alignment was examined by eye and alignment ambiguous regions were removed (creating 10 reduced alignments).

Phylogeny of Cephalobina (Nematoda): molecular evidence for recurrent evolution of probolae and incongruence with traditional classifications.

Nematodes of the suborder Cephalobina include an ecologically and morphologically diverse array of species that range from soil-dwelling microbivores to parasites of vertebrates and invertebrates. Despite a long history of study, certain of these microbivores (Cephaloboidea) present some of the most intractable problems in nematode systematics; the lack of an evolutionary framework for these taxa has prevented the identification of natural groups and inhibited understanding of soil biodiversity and nematode ecology. Phylogenetic analyses of ribosomal (LSU) sequence data from 53 taxa revealed strong support for monophyly of taxa representing the Cephaloboidea, but do not support the monophyly of most genera within this superfamily.

Molecular population genetics of Cucumber mosaic virus in California: evidence for founder effects and reassortment.

The structure and genetic diversity of a California Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) population was assessed by single-strand conformation polymorphism and nucleotide sequence analyses of genomic regions 2b, CP, MP, and the 3' nontranslated region of RNA3. The California CMV population exhibited low genetic diversity and was composed of one to three predominant haplotypes and a large number of minor haplotypes for specific genomic regions. Extremely low diversity and close evolutionary relationships among isolates in a subpopulation suggested that founder effects might play a role in shaping the genetic structure.