Rev 11/18/2025
Tylenchina Tylenchoidea Hoplolaimidae Hoplolaiminae Hoplolaimus floridensis Subbotin, Kantor, Consoli, Lyndby, Michaud, Handoo & Inserra, 2025
Synonym Hoplolaimus neocoronatus Whiiten, 1957 (nomen nudum, inadequate description)
Female:
Body cylindroid, vermiform, tapering slightly at both ends.
Head with massive cephalic framework, set off from the rest of the body by a deep constriction with seven annuli
Some lip annuli and tare incomplet and the basal annulus is subdividede into blocksso that there appear to be seven on one side of the head and five or six on the other. Two small amphid apertures delimited by the oral disc and the small lateral lip sectors
Stylet is strong with tulip-shaped knobs.
Pharyngeal glands overlapping the intestine dorsally with three gland nuclei.
Lateral field with four prominent lines, strongly aerolated throughout the body. Cuticular annulations are prominent with smooth annules. Phasmids (scutella) arge, conspicuous, and variable in position, with one at the anterior half and the other at the posterior half of the body.
Vulva a deep and prominent transverse slit near mid-body.
Didelphic, amphidelphic, ovaries outstretched.
Spermatheca round to oval with rounded sperm.
Tail broadly truncate to occasionally rounded clavate
Male:
Similar to female, except for sexual dimorphism.
Monorhic, testis outstretched
Spicules, gubernaculum, and bursa are large and prominent, with the bursa extending to the tail tip a
Ref: Subbotin et al., 2025
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:
Described from the rhizosphere of soil around Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon Pers.) in Citra, Marion County, Florida, USA.
Also associated eith St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) in Alachua County, and reported from several locations in Collier County and Hendry County, Florida, USA .
Initially described as a Q-rated pest in California and later elevated to an A rating (Martin, 2025).
In August 2025, a shipment of outdoor plants from Hillsborough County, Florida, was sampled at the California Border Protection Station at Needles. California Department of Food and Agriculture Nematologist Sergei Subbotin extracted Hoplolaimus floridensis from the sample and identified the nematode with morphological and molecular analyses. He assigned it a Q-rating. Based on the risk to agriculture in California from H. floridensis elevation ot the pest to an A-rating was proposed (Martin, 2025).
Lance nematodes (Hoplolaimus spp.) are considered ectoparasitic, although they can feed as semi- or facultative ecto-endoparasites on the roots of a wide range of plants, some of which are agronomic crops (Fortuner, 1987).
Grasses - Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda grass), Stenotaphrum secundatum (St. Augustine grass), Zyosia sp. (zyosiagrass) (Subbotin et al, 2025).
Presumed to be sexually reproducing based on abundance of males and presence of sperm in the spermatheca.
Ecophysiological Parameters:
Lance nematodes are the second-most damaging nematode pest of turfgrass in Florida (after sting nematodes), especially on St. Augustine grass. Lance nematodes cause damage to Bermudagrass putting greens in the southeast, and they are commonly found causing damage on golf courses. While sting nematodes are easier to eliminate with nematicides, lance nematodes have a considerably greater ability to disperse and are much more difficult to control (Crow and Brammer, 2001; Zeng et al., 2012; Martin, 2025)
Host Plant Resistance, Non-hosts and Crop Rotation alternatives:
Chitambar, J. J., Westerdahl, B. B., and Subbotin, S. A. 2018. Plant Parasitic Nematodes in California Agriculture. In Subbotin, S., Chitambar, J. (eds) Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Sustainable Agriculture of North America. Sustainability in Plant and Crop Protection. Springer, Cham
Crow, W. T. and Brammer, A. S. 2001. Featured Creatures: Lance Nematode. FDACS/DPI https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/nematode/lance_nematode.htm#imp
Martin, H.J. 2025. California Pest Rating Proposal for Hoplolaimus floridensis Subbotin et al., 2025, Florida Lance Nematode. California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sacramento, California.
Subbotin, S.A., Kantor, M., Consoli, E., Lyndby, N.H., Michaud, A., Handoo, Z., and Inserra, R.N., 2025. Molecular phylogeny and species delimiting for the genus Hoplolaimus (Nematoda: Tylenchida) with description of Hoplolaimus floridensis sp. n. and notes on biogeography of the genus in the United States. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 26(17), p.8501.