Integrative identification of Scutylenchus tartuensis (Tylenchoidea: Merliniidae) based on two populations from Iran

Summary

Two populations of Scutylenchus tartuensis recovered from the rhizosphere of camelthorn and mugwort in South Khorasan province, eastern Iran, are described based on morphological and molecular data. The phylogenetic relationships of the new populations with representatives of the family Merliniidae were reconstructed and discussed using D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit and internal transcribed spacer regions of ribosomal DNA (LSU D2-D3 and ITS rDNA) based on Bayesian inference. The first ITS sequences of the species, from the Iranian populations of S. tartuensis, were utilised to reconstruct and analyse the corresponding phylogenetic tree. In the LSU phylogenetic tree, the sequence of the new population formed a clade with other sequences of the species, and in the ITS rDNA phylogenetic tree, sequences of the new populations formed a clade with S. quercinus and two unidentified species of the genus Scutylenchus with different levels of relatedness.