Bursaphelenchus rainulfi sp. n. (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchidae), first record of the genus Bursaphelenchus Fuchs, 1937 from Malaysia

Abstract

Wood samples were taken from pine tree plantations in different regions of Malaysia and investigated for the occurrence of Bursaphelenchus species. Among 13 samples collected from damaged or dead pines in West Malaysia (near Kuala Lumpur) and Sabah (Kinabalu National Park and Sepilok), only one sample of a dead Pinus caribaea tree with bark beetle attack from a plantation near Kuala Lumpur revealed the presence of a new species of Bursaphelenchus. Bursaphelenchus rainul sp. n. is characterised by a relatively small stylet lacking distinct basal knobs but with slight basal swellings, lateral eld with two lines, female with a small vulval ap, postuterine branch occupying about 33-50% of vulva-anus distance, female tail slim, conoid, with a nely rounded, ventrally bent terminus, male spicules relatively small with high condylus, distinct rostrum but no cucullus, and a small terminal 'bursa' on the male tail. It is similar to B. hellenicus, B. hylobianum and B. abietinus in the shape of the spicules and the female tail as well as in the presence of only two lines in the lateral eld. It is distinguished by a number of characters including spicule size, shape of the 'bursa', female tail shape and excretory pore position. Bursaphelenchus rainul sp. n. is further distinguished from these morphologically similar species by molecular studies using the ITS-RFLP technique.

First record of Bursaphelenchus rainulfi on pine trees from eastern China and its phylogenetic relationship with intro-genus species

“…rainulfi, first recorded on coniferous wood in east China, matches consistently well the original description of Malay population for both morphological and molecular characters (Braasch and Burgermeister, 2002;Burgermeister et al, 2005).…”

“…Seven restriction enzymes except MboI (no digestion sites) were selected for RFLPs (Fig.2). Identical DNA restriction fragment patterns were obtained for Chinese population with the original Malay populations (Braasch and Burgermeister, 2002); general morphological observation and ITS-PCR-RFLP analysis of the Bursaphelenchus Shangyu population match well with the original description of B. rainulfi.…”

“…The specimens display generally all the features of B. rainulfi according to the original description (Braasch and Burgermeister, 2002). Both females and males were slim nematodes with elongate-ovaled median bulb and distinct offset lips, and slightly ventrally curved when killed by heat.…”

“…During a survey of the pine wilt disease caused by B. xylophilus in Zhejiang, a province in the east coast of China, B. rainulfi (Braasch and Burgermeister, 2002) was first found in dead pine trees of this area. This species was isolated for the first time in the Malaysia from pine wood (Braasch and Burgermeister, 2002), and then on Chinese packaging wood of Callitris columellaris (Ambrogioni et al, 2003).…”

“…This species was isolated for the first time in the Malaysia from pine wood (Braasch and Burgermeister, 2002), and then on Chinese packaging wood of Callitris columellaris (Ambrogioni et al, 2003). This paper presents the morphology, molecular characters, including the ITS region of rDNA and D2-D3 expansion region of the LSU rRNA gene, of B. rainulfi from Zhejiang, and the phylogenetic relationships of the species with some other intro-genus species.…”