Pratylenchus araucensis

Pratylenchus araucensis	Contents	Rev 06/27/2023
	Classification	Hosts
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Pratylenchus Menu	Economic Importance	Damage
	Distribution	Management
Return to Pratylenchidae Menu	Feeding	References
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Classification:

        Tylenchina
        Tylenchoidea
         Pratylenchidae
          Pratylenchinae

Pratylenchus araucensis Munera, Bert & Decraemer, 2009

Morphology and Anatomy:

Female:

Body slender vermiform, tapering towards both ends.
Cuticle finely annulated; lateral field marked by four lines of vasrying length and demarcation
Lip region continuous with body contour but often showing a small discontinuity in outline at its base; head diam. > 3x its height.
Cephalic framework moderately sclerotised. Labial region typicallywith two annuli (second lip annulus thicker than first), but occasionally two annuli on one side and three annuli on the other
Anterior surface of oral disc either low-conical or flat with rounded edges.
Face view shows complete fusion of lip sectors and to oral disc, resulting in a smooth face.
Stylet short and robust, with well developed round to oblong basal knobs, directed laterally. Stylet cone length equal to length of shaft plus knobs.
Dorsal pharyngeal gland opening at 2.7 um posterior to stylet knobs.
Median bulb oval, occupying half body diam.
Secretory-excretory pore and canal lslightly anterior to pharyngeal-intestinal junction. Hemizonid located just anterior to secretory-excretory pore,t
Pharyngeal glands short, overlapping intestine ventrally.
Vulva located posteriorly, lips well developed, often protruding. Genital tract mono-prodelphic, extending anteriad for nearly twice distance between vulva and anus, ovary with single row of oocytes.
Spermatheca oval to slightly rounded, filled with rounded sperm.
PUS generally short, undifferentiated, cellular tissue sometimes present at distal end. Anus round to oval-shaped in ventral view.
Tail conoid to subcylindrical
Tail terminus variable in shape, mostly conical rounded or rounded but also truncate, subdigitate, bilobed, trilobed or occasionally with cleft tip.
Hyaline portion of tail terminus distinct.

Male:

As abundant as female.
Morphologically similar to female, but smaller in all morphometric data, except for ratio a.
Monorchic with single outstretched anterior testis not extending to pharyngeal glands.
Sperm globular.
Spicule 15 um long.
Gubernaculum simple, not protruding.
Bursa arising slightly anterior to head of retracted spicule and enveloping tail, bursal margin smooth or finely crenate proximally.
Phasmid distinct, situated in bursa region at, or just anterior to, mid-tail
Male tail pointed,

Ref: Munera et al., 2009

Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:

Originally described nematodes isolated from soil and roots collected in the rhizosphere of plantain (Musa AAB) at Arauca, Arauca State, Colombia (Munera et al., 2009). The species name reflects the type locality.

Pratylenchus acaurensis is widely distributed on Musa in Colombia (Arboleda-Riascos et al., 2022).

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Economic Importance:

Damaging to a wide range of plant species. As an example, Pratylenchus araucaceae causes root damage in different species of the Musaceae family, including plantain (Musa paradisiaca) and banana (Musa acuminata), (Riascos-Ortiz et al., 2022). Symptoms induced by the nematode in Musaceae roots sre internal root lesions that are initially yellow and later turn purple and finally brown. Externally, the necrotic areas of the roots appear black due to the destruction of the cortical tissues (CABI, 2022). In affected plantain and banana plants, the nematode reduces the root system and the ability to take up water and nutrients, which causes foliar chlorosis, growth retardation, decreased bunch weight, lengthening of the productive cycle, and returns or weak suckers (De Luca et al., 2012). In fields severely infested with the nematode, plants suffer toppling and complete bunch loss (CABI, 2022).

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Feeding:

Migratory endoparasites of plant roots.

No distinct infective stage, adults and juveniles of all stages move in and out of roots, entering behind zone of elongation but may feed externally at root tip.

Feeds on parenchyma cells, largely in cortex, but not exclusively.

Move into root by pushing epidermal cells apart, or moving directly through them.

Inserts stylet into cortical cells and withdraws contents associated with pulsating of metacorpus.

Access provided for other pathogens by channels left in cortex.

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Hosts:

For an extensive host range list for this species, click

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Life Cycle:

Ecophysiological Parameters:

For Ecophysiological Parameters for this species, click	If species level data are not available, click for genus level parameters

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Damage:

Actual damage caused by nematode feeding is difficult to ascertain because of associated organisms and secondary infections. For example, in addition to the direct damage caused to plantain and banana roots, by sveral Pratylenchus spp., there is a high correlation between Pratylenchus infection and infection by fungi such as Fusarium oxysporum, F. redolens, F. sambucium, Nigrospora musae, and Rhizoctonia solani, and also bu bacteria such as Xanthomonas campestris (Bridge et al., 1997; Arboleda-Riascos et al., 2022).

Damage to Musa spp. can be ascribed tp P. coffeae, P. speijeri, P. goodeyi and P. acaurensis. Confounding the problem is that microscopic identifiaction of some species is difficult due to overlap of morphological am morphometric characteristics. In such cases, a clear separation of species requires molecular analyis (De Luca et al., 2012; Arboleda-Riascos et al., 2022).

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Management:

Host Plant Resistance, Non-hosts and Crop Rotation alternatives:

For plants reported to have some level of resistance to this species, click

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References:

Arboleda-Riascos, Roascos-Ortiz, De Agudelao, F,V., Mosquera-Espinosa, F.T., Oliveiora, C.M.G., Munoz-Florez, J.E. 2022. .Pratylenchus araucensis (Rhabditida: Pratylenchidae) a Widely Distributed Nematode in Musa spp. From Colombia. J. Nematology 54: | DOI: 10.2478/jofnem-2022-0057

CABI. 2022. Pratylenchus coffeae (banana root nematode). Invasive species compendium. Datasheet, https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/43895.

De Luca, F., Troccoli, A., Duncan, L., Subbotin, S., Waeyenberge, L., Coyne, L., Brentu, F., and Inserra, R. 2012. Pratylenchus speijeri n. sp. (Nematoda: Pratylenchidae), a new root-lesion nematode pest of plantain in West Africa. Journal of Nematology 14:987â€“1004.

Munera, G.E., Bert, W., and Decraemer, W. 2009. Morphological and molecular characterisation of Pratylenchus araucensis n. sp. (Pratylenchidae), a root-lesion nematode associated with Musa plants in Colombia. Nematology 11:799-813.