Taxonomic and molecular identification of mesocriconema and criconemoides species (nematoda: criconematidae).

Populations of Mesocriconema curvatum, M. kirjanovae, M. onoense, M. ornatum, M. sphaerocephala, M. surinamense, M. vadense, M. xenoplax, and Criconemoides informis from different geographical areas in the continental United States were characterized morphologically and molecularly. A new ring nematode from Washington County, Arkansas, is also described and named Mesocriconema ozarkiense n. sp., This new species is characterized by females with small flattened submedian lobes, lower than or at the same level as the labial disc, vagina straight, very well developed spermatheca without sperm, no more than one anastomoses, L=379-512 μm, V=89-93, stylet length = 49-61 μm, R=107-119, annuli with slightly crenate margins on tail portion and a simple anterior vulval lip. The molecular characterization of M. ozarkiense n. sp. using the ITS rRNA gene sequence and the phylogenesis relationship of this new species with the ring nematodes included in this study are provided.