The Root-Knot Nematode Producing Galls on Spartina alterniflora Belongs to the Genus Meloidogyne: Rejection of Hypsoperine and Spartonema spp.

Root-knot nematodes are a major group of plant-parasitic nematodes, but their sister group within the Tylenchida remains to be identified. To find the sister group and for any investigation of the evolutionary biology of the genus Meloidogyne, it would be useful to identify the most basal species within Meloidogyninae. Meloidogyne spartinae, a root-knot nematode parasitic on cordgrass (Spartina spp.