Tripius gyraloura n. sp. (Aphelenchoidea: Sphaerulariidae) parasitic in the gall midge Lasioptera donacis Coutin (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

A new nematode, Tripius gyraloura n. sp., is described from the arundo gall midge, Lasioptera donacis Coutin (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae). This gall midge is being considered as a biological control agent for use in North America against the introduced giant reed Arundo donax (L.) (Poaceae: Cyperales). Thus the present study was initiated to investigate a nematode parasite that was unknown at the time studies with L. donacis were initiated. The new species has a rapid development in the fly host and the mature parasitic female nematodes evert their uterine cells in the hosts’ hemolymph. Because large numbers of nematodes sterilise the host, eradication of the parasite from laboratory colonies of the midge may be necessary before populations of the fly are released.     

Strongyloides spearei n. sp. (Nematoda: Strongyloididae) from the common wombatVombatus ursinus (Marsupialia: Vombatidae)

Strongyloides spearei n. sp. is described from the small intestine of the common wombatVombatus ursinus from Healesville, Victoria. The new species is distinguished from all known congeners by: the triangular shape of the stoma and the length of the parasitic female; the blunt spicules in the free-living male; and the presence of eggs in the faeces of the host.S. spearei andS. thylacis Mackerras, 1959 form a separate group withinStrongyloides based on both species infecting marsupials, having directly recurrent ovaries in the parasitic female and having blunt spicules in the free-living male. The histological localisation ofS. spearei is predominantly within the crypts of the small intestine.     

Corethrellonema grandispiculosum n. gen., n. sp. and Aproctonema chapmani n. sp. (Nematoda: Tetradonematidae), Parasites of the Dipterous Insect Genera,Corethrella and Culicoides in Louisiana

Two new nematodes of the family Tetradonematidae, parasitic in aquatic dipterous insects in Louisiana, are presented. Corethrellonema grandispiculosum n. gen., n. sp., from the chaoborid fly, Corethrella brakeleyi Coquillett, and Aproctonema chapmani n. sp., from the sand fly, Culicoides arboricola Root and Hoffman, are described and illustrated. The biology and life histories of these nematodes show that the adults occur in the last larval instar of the insect host. The adult nematodes mate in the body cavity of the insect, and later the female nematode, replete with eggs, exits from the larval fly causing the death of the insect. Male nematodes usually remain in the insect cadaver.     

Thalassomermis megamphis n. gen., n. sp. (Mermithidae: Nemata) from the Bathyal South Atlantic Ocean

Thalassomermis megamphis n. gen., n. sp. (Mermithidae: Nemata) was extracted from sediment collected off the coast of Brazil at a depth of approximately 1,000 m. Although the food of this new nematode is unknown, the reduction of the stoma and esophagus and presence of a trophosome indicate that it is parasitic in its juvenile stages. Thalassomermis megaraphis n. gen., n. sp. is assigned to Mermithidae because of its similarity to that family in the appearance of the cephalic sensory receptors, the long and tubular vagina, and copulatory muscles of the male extending posteriorly throughout most of the length of the tail. Thalassomermis megamphis n. gen., n. sp. differs from all other members of Mermithidae by the large, lenticular, intracuticular amphidial fovea with coiled, emergent terminal filaments as well as the small amphidial aperture situated over the center of the fovea.     

Helicotylenchus stylocercus n. sp. and Rotylenchus phaliurus n. sp. (Nematoda: Hoplolaimidae) from Costa Rica

Two new species of plant-parasitic nematodes from Costa Rica are described. Helicotygenchus styloeercus n. sp., from soil around roots of banana at Coto, is distinguished hy the female tail, which bears a large pillarlike ventral projection. Rotylenchus phaliurus n. sp., from soil artmnd roots of Dioscoroea sp. at Sixaola, differs from R. caudaphasmidius in having the conus equal to or more than half the spear length, and large terminal annules on the female tail.     

Steinernema scapterisci n. sp. (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae)

Steinernema scapterisci n. sp., isolated in Uruguay from the mole cricket Scapteriscus vicinus, can be distinguished from other members in the genus by the presence of prominent cheilorhabdions, an elliptically shaped structure associated with the excretory duct, and a double-flapped epitygma in the first-generation female. The spicules of the male are pointed, tapering smoothly to a small terminus, and the shaft (calomus) is long, bearing a sheath. The gubernaculum has a long, upward-bent anterior part. The ratio of head to excretory pore divided by tail length of the third-stage juvenile is greater for S. scapterisci n. sp. than for S. carpocapsae. Steinernema scapterisci n. sp. did not hybridize with S. carpocapsae strain Breton. In laboratory tests, S. scapterisci n. sp. killed 10% or less of non-orthopteran insects, including the wax moth larva, a universal host for other species of Steinernema.     

Antaretylus humus n. gen., n. sp. from the Subantarctic (Nematoda: Tylenchoidea)

Antarctylus humus n. gen., n. sp. from peat soil in the subantarctic is proposed. It can be distinguished from the most closely related genus Helicotylenchus by the arrangement of the esophageal glands, the broadly rounded lip region, and the tapering pointed tail in the female.     

Heydenius dominicus n. sp. (Nematoda: Mermithidae), a Fossil Parasite from the Dominican Republic

Heydenius dominicus n. sp. is described as a new species of fossil mermithid nematode from Dominican Republic amber. The species is represented by two specimens of parasitic juveniles that left their insect host and became embedded in the resin. The nematodes are associated with an adult male limoniid (Diptera: Limoniidae) and an adult female mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae). The parasites are thought to have emerged from the mosquito host. This is the first report of a fossil mermithid from a Neotropical area.     

Hemicycliophora hellenica n. sp. (Nemata: Criconematidae) from Greece

Hemicycliophora hellenica n. sp. is described and illustrated from a bisexual population found in Filippias, Epirus, Greece, in the rhizosphere of giant reed (Arundo donax) and unidentified aquatic plants along the edge of irrigation canals. Hemicycliophora hellenica n. sp. is characterized by a long stylet (more than 120 µm), body length (L = 1,078-1,634 µm; R = 303-362), and lateral field marked by three lateral lines in females and four in males. The lip region is distinctive in that the female labial disc is oval and offset from the first lip region annule, and protrudes markedly; the male labial disc is very large, offset and rectangular, and protrudes distinctly. Hemicycliophora hellenica n. sp. resembles H. megalodiscus Loof by possession of a strongly protruding labial disc, but differs in having a longer female body, more body annules, longer stylet, and dorsally and ventrally indented head annules. The male labial plate is larger than in H. megalodiscus, and the male has four incisures in the lateral field vs. three in H. megalodiscus.     

Choniomyzon inflatus n. sp. (Crustacea: Copepoda: Nicothoidae) associated with Ibacus novemdentatus (Crustacea: Decapoda: Scyllaridae) from Japanese waters

A new species of parasitic copepod, Choniomyzon inflatus n. sp., is described based on specimens collected from the external egg masses of the smooth fan lobster Ibacus novemdentatus Gibbes captured in the North Pacific Ocean off Ainan, Ehime Prefecture, western Japan. The new species differs from its congeners in having a globular to ovoid prosome, in bearing asymmetrically arranged denticles at a rounded apex of both the terminal segment of the antenna and the maxilliped, and in lacking serrate lobes on the basis of legs 1 and 2. The species is similar in size and shape to the host’s eggs, which may be interpreted as egg mimicry. The new species is the first member of Choniomyzon Pillai, 1962 from subtropical regions.     

Rhabditis (Oscheius) pheropsophi n. sp. (Rhabditida: Rhabditidae)

Rhabditis (Oscheius) pheropsophi n. sp., associated with cadavers of the bombardier beetle, Pheropsophus aequinoctialis, is described from material collected in Brazil. Mean body length of the female is 1,217 μm, of the male 872 μm, and of the dauer juvenile 568 μm. The female has six lips with one papilla on each lateral lip and two on each sublateral lip; stoma wall thickened dorsally, metarhabdions with warts, excretory pore near base of esophagus, tail long (c = 8), and phasmids prominent, protruding on scanning electron microscope preparations. The male has 10 pairs of bursal ribs, with the terminal pair considerably smaller than the others; spicules fused distally two-thirds of their length. The new species can be distinguished from other members of the Dolichura-group by its fused spicules.     

Heterodera achilleae n. sp. (Nematoda: Heteroderidae) from Yarrow in Yugoslavia

Heterodera achilleae n. sp., a member of the H. rostochiensis group, is described and illustrated from roots of yarrow, Achillea millefolium L. in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. This new, round-cyst species differs from closely related species especially as follows: (1) from H. leptonepia, by having stouter larvae (a = 21), with longer styler (25 μ), and with outlet of dorsal esophageal gland averaging 5.7 μ from base o f styler; (2) from H. millefolii, in having excretory pore at base of neck and small, straight vulval slit of 5 μ; (3) from H. rostochiensis, in having a B/A ratio (Granek''s ratio) of 1.6 ; (4) from H. tabacum, by longer female stylet, two annules on female head, and males with outlet of dorsal esophageal gland further back (5.7 μ). In addition, H. achilleae n. sp. differs from the latter three species in having prominent longitudinal striae on the anterior half, or more, of cysts and females.     

Description of Dolichodorus grandaspicatus n. sp. (Nematoda: Dolichodoridae)

Dolichodorus grandaspicatus n. sp., collected from soil about roots of a red maple (Acer rubrum L.) in a creek bottom near Ludwig. Johnson County, Arkansas, is described. It differs from two closely related species, D. marylandicus and D. heterocephalus, by the longer spike on the female tail, the lenght of the female tail, and the shape of the extrudable portion of the gubernaculum of the males. It further differs from D. marylandicus by having heavily sclerotized accessory pieces of the vuvla and from D. heterocephalus by having a shorter stylet.     

Schistonchus africanus n. sp. (Aphelenchida: Aphelenchoididae) Associated with Ficus thonningii (Moraceae) and its Pollinator Wasp Elisabethiella stuckenbergi (Chalcidoidea: Agaonidae)

Syconia ("figs") from Ficus thonningii and adults of its pollinator wasp Elisabethiella stuckenbergi were dissected to elucidate their association with a new species of Schistonchus (Aphelenchoididae). Schistonchus africanus n. sp. is characterized by a short stylet (13-16 μm long); position of the excretory pore opening in both sexes at a level just behind the stylet knobs; and short post-uterine branch, one body-width long. Schistonchus africanus n. sp. parasitizes F. thonningii florets and is transported by the winged females of E. stuckenbergi. Juveniles, females, and males of the nematode were found in the female and male fig florets and in the abdomen of the vector. Nematode populations extracted from female wasps or fig floret tissues did not differ in their morphology. No association was observed with the wingless males of the pollinator wasp.     

A New Ataloderinae (Nematoda: Heteroderidae), Thecavermiculatus gracililancea n. gen., n. sp.

Thecavermiculatus gracililancea n. gen., n . sp. is described from the roots of Festuca myuros L. ("rattail fescue") a range grass in Monterey County, California. Thecavermiculatus females have a slight terminal prominence on which are located the vulva and anus, while its closest relatives, Atalodera and Sherodera, have a large terminal prominence. Furthermore, in T. gracililancea the hatched second-stage juveniles are retained in the female body while Atalodera and Sherodera females retain embryonated eggs.     

Description of the Male of Laneella perisi (Mariluis) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) n. comb.

The male Laneella perisi (Mariluis) n. comb. is described based on specimens collected in the Cordillera Oriental (1,370–1,450 m asl), Florencia-Suaza, Caquetá, Colombia. A key to separate the two species of the genus Laneella and illustrations of the male genitalia and female abdomen, terminalia, and spermatheca are also presented.     

Seladonia (Pachyceble) henanensis sp. n. (Hymenoptera,Halictidae) from China

Seladonia (Pachyceble) henanensis sp. n., is described from Henan Province, the eastern-central part of China. This species is separated from its allied species by a combination of the following morphological characters: head broad in female, inner hind tibial spur of female with 7–8 slender teeth, T1 basolaterally with appressed hair tuft in both sexes, and genitalia with long and large lower gonostylus in male. Important taxonomic characters are illustrated with photographs, scanning electron micrographs, and line drawings.