Rev 09/06/2023
Enoplea Dorylaimida Dorylaimina Dorylaimoidea Longidoridae Longidorinae
Longidorus orientalis Loof, 1982
Synonyms
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:
Reported from Iran, Iraq, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United States (Arizona, California, Florida) (Subbotin et al., 2015).
Longidorus orientalis is mostly likely native to the Middle East. It was originally described by Loof (1982) from declining date palms (Phoenix dactylifera) in Saudi Arabia. It is possible that L. orientalis was introduced to California as early as 1912 with propagative date palms from the Middle East, before any phytosanitary restrictions were in place. From California, they were accidentally spread to Arizona and Florida with ornamental date palms (Subbotin et al., 2015; Inserra et al., 2015). At the end of their productive fruiting cycle mature palms are sold as landscape trees and shipped mainly to appropriate climatic zones within the U.S.
The first official record of this nematode in the Americas, and molecular characterization of populations in the U.S. and other countries, was made by CDFA nematologists (Subbotin et al. 2015). The populations were mostly females but also contained a few males, which was not reported in the original species description of Loof (Inserra et al., 2015).
C-rated pest in California
The abundance of L. orientalis in California date palm growing areas, and their damage potential for the date palm industry, is currently uncertain. Although there are records of infection and damage to both grapes and citrus in the literature (Loof, 1982), there have been no detections on those hosts in California..
A very similar nematode, Longidorus africanus, is also associated with palms in California. That species can co-occur with L. orientalis (Inserra et al., 2015) and molecular diagnostics may be necessary to distinguish between the sapecies (Scheck, 2023.
Probably ectoparasitic root-tip feeders.
Reported hosts include: Citrus sp., fig (Ficus sp.), date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), graminaceous plants, grapevines (Vitis sp.). (Loof, 1982; Noruzi and Barooti, 2005; Palomares-Rius et al., 2010; Tzortzakakis et al., 2014).
Ecophysiological Parameters:
Host Plant Resistance, Non-hosts and Crop Rotation alternatives:
Inserra, R.N., Stanley, J.D., Ploeg, A.T., Thana-Maafi, Z., Tzortzakakis, E.A., Chitambar, J.J., Palomares Rius, J.E., Castillo, P. and Subbotin, S.A., 2015. Morphological and molecular characterization of needle nematodes (Longidorus spp.) on date palm in Arizona, California, and Florida. 47th Annual Meeting of the Organization of Nematologists of Tropical America. https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/161142
Loof, P.A.A. 1982. Two new species of Longidoridae (Dorylaimida) from Saudi Arabia. Nematologica 28:307-317.
Noruzi, R. and Barooti, S.H., 2005. Presence of Longidorus orientalis Loof 1983 in the South of Iran. Iranian Journal of Plant Pathology, 41: 141-142.
Palomares-Rius, J.E., Landa, B.B., Maafi, Z.T., Hunt, D.J. and Castillo, P. 2010. Comparative morphometrics and ribosomal DNA sequence analysis of Longidorus orientalis Loof, 1983 (Nematoda: Longidoridae) from Spain and Iran. Nematology, 12:631-640.
Scheck, H.J. 2023.California Pest Rating Proposal for Longidorus orientalis Loof, 1982 Needle nematode, California Department of Food and Agriculture Sacramento, California, USA.
Subbotin, S.A., Tzortzakakis, E.A., Palomares-Rius, J.E. and Castillo, P., 2015. Characterisation of populations of Longidorus orientalis Loof, 1982 (Nematoda: Dorylaimida) from date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in the USA and other countries and incongruence of phylogenies inferred from ITS1 rRNA and coxI genes. Nematology 17:459-477.