Morphological and molecular characteristics of Parasitodiplogaster religiosae n. sp. (Nematoda: Diplogastrina) associated with Ficus religiosa in China
July
Morphological and molecular characteristics of Parasitodiplogaster religiosae n. sp. (Nematoda: Diplogastrina) associated with Ficus religiosa in China
Yongsan Zeng 0 1
Wensheng Zeng 0 1
Yuan Zhang 0 1
Weimin Ye 1
Dongmei Cheng 0 1
Natsumi Kanzaki 1
Robin M. Giblin-Davis 1
0 Department of Plant Protection, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering , Guangzhou , People's Republic of China, 2 Nematode Assay Section, Agronomic Division, North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America, 3 Kansai Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Kyoto, Japan, 4 Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida-IFAS , Fort Lauderdale, Florida , United States of America
1 Editor: Mette Vestergård, Aarhus University , DENMARK
A new nematode species of the genus Parasitodiplogaster was recovered from syconia of Ficus religiosa at the Guangxiao Temple, Guangzhou, China. It is described herein as P. religiosae n. sp. and is characterised by possessing the longest and thinnest spicule of all currently described males in the genus, an elongated laterally ªε-shapedº and ventrally rhomboid-like gubernaculum, a stoma without teeth, consisting of a ring-like cheilostom with indistinct anteriolateral projections, a tube-like gymnostom and a funnel-like stegostom, monodelphic with a mean vulval position of 66%. There are three pre-cloacal and six postcloacal male genital papillae with the arrangement P1, P2, P3, (C, P4), P5, P6d, P7, P8, P9d, Ph. This new species was easily differentiated from other members of the genus by DNA sequences of partial small subunit rRNA gene (SSU) and the D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit rRNA gene (LSU). Phylogenetic analysis also corroborated its reasonable placement within a well-supported monophyletic clade with other Parasitodiplogaster species and within the australis-group that includes P. australis and P. salicifoliae that are all associates of fig wasp pollinators (Platyscapa sp.) of figs of the subsection Urostigma.
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Data Availability Statement: All relevant data
including morphometrics, ethics, nomenclatural
acts and figures are within the manuscript. All DNA
sequences are available from the GenBank
database by accession numbers in the manuscript.
Funding: This study was funded by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (http://www.
nsfc.gov.cn/) (Grant No. 31572252) to YZ.
Competing interests: The authors have declared
that no competing interests exist.
Introduction
Ficus religiosa L., a monoecious fig, popularly known as the ashwattha tree, bo tree, bodhi tree,
peepal tree, peepul tree, pippala tree or sacred fig, belongs to the genus Ficus, subgenus
Urostigma, section Urostigma, and subsection Urostigma. It is native to India, southwest China and
Mainland Southeast Asia, and has been introduced and cultivated worldwide as an ornamental
tree in parks and gardens in subtropical and tropical areas with the potential for becoming an
invasive weed, if its pollinator is co-introduced and becomes established (https://www.cabi.
org/isc/datasheet/241680). It is also grown for traditional medicine for various types of human
disorders, such as asthma, diabetes, diarrhea, epilepsy, gastric problems, inflammation,
infections and sexual disorders[
1
]. It is pollinated by the fig wasp, Platyscapa quadraticeps (Mayr)
(Agaonidae)(http://www.figweb.org/Ficus/Subgenus_Urostigma/Section_Urostigma/
Subsection_Urostigma/Ficus_religiosa.htm).
Parasitodiplogaster Poinar, 1979 was described as the first parasitic nematode genus
associated with fig-pollinating wasps by Poinar[
2
]. There is an interesting fact that the nematodes
Parasitodiplogaster (Diplogasteridae) and Schistonchus (Aphelenchoididae) which are vectored
by pollinator wasps are in apparently species-specific associations in co-evolved complex of
nematode parasites and fig wasp pollinators[
3
]. The genus Parasitodiplogaster has since been
reported from fig wasps and the sycones of Ficus species in North and Central America, Africa
and Australia with a current total of 16 described species including P. australis Bartholomaeus,
Davies, Ye, Kanzaki & Giblin-Davis, 2009, P. citrinema Poinar & Herre, 1991, P. doliostoma
Kanzaki, Giblin-Davis, Davies & Center, 2012, P. duganema Poinar & Herre, 1991, P. laevigata
Giblin-Davis, Ye, Kanzaki, Williams, Morris & Thomas, 2006, P. maxinema Poinar & Herre,
1991, P. nymphanema Poinar & Herre, 1991, P. obtusinema Poinar & Herre, 1991, P. paranema
Poinar & Herre, 1991, P. pertanema Poinar & Herre, 1991, P. pharmaconema Kanzaki,
GiblinDavis, Ye, Herre & Center, 2013, P. popenema Poinar & Herre, 1991, P. salicifoliae WoÈhr,
Greeff, Kanzaki & Giblin-Davis, 2015, P. sycophilon Poinar, 1979, P. trigonema Poinar &
Herre, 1991 and P. yoponema Poinar & Herre, 1991 [2,4±9]. Three morphospecies (Msp1-3) of
Parasitodiplogaster associ (...truncated)