Morphological and molecular characteristics of foliar nematode attacking silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) in Poland

Abstract

Aphelenchoides fragariae (Ritzema Bos, 1890) Christie, 1932 was isolated from leaves of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) seedlings proving that the source of infection was anemones plants. This is the first report to our best knowledge showing that the source of nematode infection of a woody plant could be a perennial plant. A. fragariae was identified by morphometric and molecular analyses. Morphological diagnosis based on the bending shape of the tail of males and pronounced apex and rostrum proved to be the most accurate reliable characteristic. On the opposite, the high variability of the mucron shape in female tails made the identification by microscopic analyses difficult. Identification of the species was confirmed by analysis of 28S rDNA sequences. The morphometric data of adults extracted from silver birch was compared with that of nematodes isolated from Anemone hupehensis (Lemoine) Lemoine. Males body length varied highly in samples collected from both host plant species.

Keywords

• Aphelenchoides fragariae
• woody plant
• morphometric data
• 28S rDNA