title: Description of Meloidoderita salina sp. n. (Nematoda, Sphaeronematidae) from a micro-tidal salt marsh at Mont-Saint-Michel Bay in France.
abstract: Meloidoderita salinasp. n. is described and illustrated from the halophytic plant Atriplex portulacoides L. (sea purslane) growing in a micro-tidal salt marsh in the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay in France. This new species is the first member of Meloidoderita Poghossian, 1966 collected from a saline environment, and is characterized by the following features: sedentary mature females having a small swollen body with a clear posterior protuberance; slightly dorsally curved stylet, 19.9 µm long, with posteriorly sloping knobs; neck region irregular in shape and twisted; well developed secretory-excretory (S-E) pore, with markedly sclerotized S-E duct running posteriorly; prominent uterus bordered by a thick hyaline wall and filled with eggs. The adult female transforms into a cystoid. Eggs are deposited in both egg-mass and cystoid. Cystoids of Meloidoderita salinasp.n. display a unique sub-cuticular hexagonal beaded pattern. Male without stylet, pharyngeal region degenerated, S-E duct prominent, deirids small, developed testis 97.5 µm long, spicules 18.4 µm long, cloacal opening ventrally protruded, small phasmids posterior to cloaca opening and situated at 5.9 (3.2-7.7) µm from tail end, and conical tail ending in a rounded terminus marked with one (rarely two) ventrally positioned mucro. Additionally, some young malesof the new species were observed enveloped in the last J2 cuticle. Second-stage juvenile body 470 µm long, with a 16.4 µm long stylet, prominent rounded knobs set off from the shaft, hemizonid anterior and adjacent to S-E pore, small deirids located just above S-E pore level, genital primordium located at 68-77% of body length, phasmids small and located at about 19 µm from tail tip, and tail 38.7 µm long, tapering to finely pointed terminus with a finger-like projection. Phylogenetic analyses based on the nearly full length small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences of Meloidoderita salinasp. n. revealed a close relationship of the new species with Sphaeronema alni Turkina & Chizhov, 1986 and placed these two species sister to the rest of Criconematina.
authors: Plant Protection Service, Wageningen Nematode Collection, P.O. Box 9102, 6700 HC Wageningen, The Netherlands  ; Ghent University, Department of Biology, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors: Samad
authors: S
authors: Ashrafi
authors: Didier
authors: D
authors: Mugniéry
authors: Evelyn Yj
authors: EY
authors: van Heese
authors: Adriaan C
authors: AC
authors: van Aelst
authors: Johannes
authors: J
authors: Helder
authors: Gerrit
authors: G
authors: Karssen
keywords: Atriplex portulacoides; SEM; SSU rDNA; cystoid; halophyte; hexagonal; morphology; morphometrics; nematode; new species; sea purslane; taxonomy
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