title: A New Species of Pristionchus (Rhabditida: Diplogastridae) and Its Bacterial Symbiont from Yixing, China.
abstract: A new nematode species, Pristionchus entomophilus n. sp., was collected during a soil sample survey in Yixing of Jiangsu province, eastern China. P. entomophilus n. sp. is distinguished by its unique characteristics. This new species is mainly hermaphroditic, with males seldom found. The new nematode has a similar body length but has much narrower body width compared with P. pacificus. Its body is covered with longitudinal ridges: 12 ridges on head, 13 or 14 ridges in the middle, 11 and 7 ridges in front and rear of the anus, respectively. The eurystomatous form mouth includes a triangular dorsal tooth, a large claw-like right subventral tooth, and a row of five ventral denticles placed opposite the dorsal tooth. Only eight pairs of genital papillae and a pair of phasmids are present in the tail of the male as the sixth pair of papillae having seemingly been degenerated and lost. Molecular phylogenetic trees based on 18S rDNA confirmed that the new species belongs to the genus Pristionchus and is most closely related to P. pacificus. Moreover, the new species was found to be occasionally associated with the entomopathogenic bacterial strain 09FLYB1 of Serratia nematodophila and be able to stably transfer the bacterial strain for several generations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Pengpeng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Chensheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Haoran
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Di
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Center of Life Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Guoxiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Center of Life Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yedid
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Keyun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Pristionchus; insect phoretic; phylogenetic; saprophagous; taxonomy