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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #117829
Title: SPECIATION IN THE ACUGUTTURIDAE.

Author
item Marti, Orville
item SILVAIN, J - CNRS, CEDEX, FRANCE
item ADAMS, B - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

Submitted to: Nematology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/2/2002
Publication Date: 12/1/2002
Citation: Marti, Jr., O.G., Silvain, J., Adams, B.J. 2002. Speciation in the acugutturidae (Nematoda: Aphelenchida). Nematology. 4(4):489-504.

Interpretive Summary: Many species of moths, including several that are important agricultural pests, such as the fall armyworm, are parasitized by nematodes that live on the surface of the moth body and suck the blood of their hosts. Related nematodes have also been discovered parasitizing the American cockroach, an important domestic pest. However, very little is known about the biology of these nematodes or whether different insect host species are parasitize by different species of nematodes. These nematodes are very similar in appearance and are difficult to tell apart. Some of them may be useful in biological control of pest insects. We studied nematodes from 13 species of moths and 2 groups of the American cockroach in order to identify the nematodes and to determine which anatomical structures can be used to tell them apart. Anatomical differences were found between many of the nematodes from different insects. The nematodes parasitizing the cockroaches are different from all those parasitizing moths. There were also several distinct species of nematodes that occurred on the moth species that we examined.

Technical Abstract: Ectoparasitic nematodes of the family Acugutturidae (Acugutturus, Vampyronema, and Noctuidonema) from 13 species of Lepidoptera (moths) and 2 populations of Blattodea (cockroaches) were collected, measured, and analyzed by discriminant analysis in order to identify conspecifics and to determine which morphological characters were useful in defining differences between nematodes on different host species. Results showed that the position of the excretory pore posterior to the metacorpus clearly differentiates A. parasiticus from Noctuidonema and Vampyronema. Two populations of A. parasiticus on Periplaneta americana from the West Indian islands of St. Lucia and Guadeloupe are conspecific. Nematodes resembling Vampyronema, collected from two genera of Sphingidae in Guadeloupe are characterized by extremely long stylets, equal to about 37% of the body length, and may represent a new species, or perhaps a new genus. Noctuidonema from 4 species of Spodoptera (Noctuidae) are conspecific. However, a similar Noctuidonema from the noctuid Pseudaletia unipuncta may represent a new species, based primarily on its shorter stylet length. Simple spicule structure, a lower V percentage, and a shorter style in Vampyronema are the characters that best define its differences with Noctuidonema. Nematodes on the noctuids Anicla infecta and Eulepidotis addens probably represent two species of Vampyronema. There was no clear differentiation between nematodes on the noctuids M. disseverans, M. latipes, Agrapha oxygramma, and Orthodes crenulata, all of which are probably conspecific with V. dibloia.