Morphological and molecular characterisation of Pratylenchus oleae n. sp. (Nematoda: Pratylenchidae) parasitizing wild and cultivated olives in Spain and Tunisia

A new mono-sexual root-lesion nematode species, Pratylenchus oleae n. sp., parasitizing roots of olive plants cv. Koroneiki in commercial fields at Ouled Chamekh (central Tunisia), and wild and cultivated olive (cv. Picual) plants in Agua Amarga (southern Spain) is described. The new species is characterised by the female having a lip region slightly offset and bearing three annuli, stylet 16.5 (14.5-17.0) μm long, with prominent rounded knobs, pharyngeal overlapping rather long (22–36) μm, lateral fields areolated and with four incisures and diagonal lines in middle band, spermatheca rounded but non-functional, tail short, conoid-rounded to subcylindrical, usually annulated terminus, males unknown, and a specific D2-D3, ITS1, 18S-rRNA, hsp90 and COI sequences. Morphologically this species is related to P. cruciferus, P. delattrei, and P. kumamotoensis. The results of the phylogenetic analysis based on sequences of the D2-D3 expansion regions of 28S, partial 18S and ITS rRNA genes confirmed the close relationship of P. oleae n. sp. with P. dunensis, P. penetrans, P. pinguicaudatus, from which was clearly separated. A PCR-based diagnostic assay was also developed for identification of P. oleae n. sp. using the species-specific primers Poleae_fw1_4 and Poleae_rv1 that amplify a 547-bp fragment in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) region of ribosomal DNA, which clearly separate from other root-lesion nematodes damaging olive such as P. penetrans and P. vulnus.