Phylogenetic Status and Morphological Characters of Rhabditolaimus anoplophorae (Rhabditida: Diplogastridae).

Rhabditolaimus anoplophorae Kanzaki and Futai was re-isolated from its type host (carrier), the cerambycid beetle Anoplophora malasiaca, collected in an experimental field of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. The nematode was cultured on nematode growth medium plates seeded with Escherichia coli OP50, and its morphological characters and molecular profile were examined to modernize the description. Scanning electron microscopic and light microscopy revealed the presence of four stomatal flaps, a very long gymnostom, a single ventral papilla in males, and a horizontal slit-like vulval opening in females. The positions of the deirids, hemizonids, phasmids, and rectal glands are additionally described, and the absence of a male bursa was confirmed. Phylogenetically, the genus forms a well-supported clade in the family Diplogastridae. Rhabditolaimus anoplophorae is a member of the monophyletic Rhabditolaimus clade and is closely related to R. leuckarti and several undescribed species.