Chromadorea Rhabditida Tylenchina Criconematoidea Criconematidae Discocriconemellinae
Discocriconemella De Grisse and Loof, 1965
Type species of the genus: Discocriconemella limitanea (Luc, 1959) De Grisse & Loof, 1965 Synonyms: Neocriconema (Diab and Jenkins, 1965) Criconemoides (Andrassy, 1965) Criconemoides apud (Luc, 1970) Madinema (Khan, Chawla and Saha, 1976) Acrozostron (Orton Williams, 1981)
The genus Discocriconemella De Grisse & Loof, 1965 is characterised by the presence of a distinctly offset cephalic disc.
Vovlas (1992) divided Discocriconemella species into four groups based on the configuration of the cephalic disc:
disc rounded with uninterrupted margins (group 1);
disc with ventral and dorsal deep indentations (group 2);
disc indentations giving a four-lobed appearance (group 3);
disc rounded with paired dorsal and ventral projections (group 4).
As of 2019, the genus contains 28 species (Maria et al., 2019).
Female: Body generally curved ventrally. Posterior edge of body annules smooth or finely crenate, never bearing scales or spines.
Photograph by R. Lopez, Nemapix.
Labial annule high, directed forward, forming a flattened disc, distinctly set off from second head annulus, often irregular (dorso-ventral and/or lateral indentations), and often constricted at its posterior part (sometimes described as a "neck" region).
Submedian lobes, when present, poorly developed.
Stylet of variable length, generally long, rigid or flexible. Anchor-shaped knobs.
Vulva usually closed, occasionally open.
Post-vulval part rounded to elongate-conoid.
Juvenile: Annuli smooth to finely crenate, no longitudinal rows of scales or spines.
[Ref: Raski and Luc, (1987), Geraert (2010).]
Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Discocriconemella
Feed ectoparasitically on root tips or along more mature roots.
De Grisse, A. & Loof, P.A.A. (1965). Revision of the genus Criconemoides (Nematoda). Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool en Opzoekingsstations Gent 30, 577-603.
Geraert, E. 2010. The Criconematidae of the World: Identification of the Family Criconematidae. Academia Press, Gent. 615p.
Maria, M., Cai, R., Subbotin, S.A. and Zheng, J. 2019. Description of Discocriconemella sinensis n. sp. (Nematoda: Criconematidae) from the rhizosphere of Camellia sinensis in China. Nematology 21: 779-792.
Raski, D.J. and Luc, M. 1987. A reappraisal of Tylenchina (Nematoda) 10. The superfamily Criconematoidea Taylor, 1936. Revue de Nematologie 10:409-444.
Vovlas, N. (1992). Taxonomy of Discocriconemella (Nematoda: Criconematoidea) with a redescription of D. mauritiensis. Journal of Nematology 24, 391-398.