Rev 11/11/2024
Tylenchina Tylenchoidea Hoplolaimidae Rotylenchulinae
Rotylenchulus parvus (Williams, 1960) Sher, 1961
Synonyms:
Helicotylenchus parvus Williams, 1960
Immature females;
Mature Female: Obese and twised into a kidney shape; irregulary swollen, widest at vulva; vulva on a protruberance
Immature Female (left):
Mature Female (below):
Male:
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:
Originally described from sugarcane in Mauritius as Helicotylenchus parvus by Willimas (1960).
Widespread in eastern and southern Africa on several important crops
Reported by Konicek, 1963 on cotton in the Imperial Valley of Calkiforonia, where it is occasionally found.
A more complete list of reported distribution from Mitchell (2024) below:
Africa: Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
America: Dominican Republic, United States of America (Arizona, California, Florida), Virgin Islands (US).
Asia: India, Iran, Pakistan. Europe: Cyprus.
Oceania: Australia.
C-rated pest in California Nematode Pest Rating System.
Sedentary semi-endoparasite of plant roots.
Cotton but also reported on corn, potato, cowpea, sweetpotato and cassava (Martin, 2024).
Ecophysiological Parameters:
Eggs, juvenile stages, immature females, and immature and mature males, occur in the rhizosphere soils of host plants. The genus is bisexual and can reproduce through cross-fertilization and through parthenogenesis with females alone.
Males of R. parvus are quite rare and, in greenhouse studies, the life cycle (egg to egg) was completed parthenogenetically in 27-36 days without the presence of males.
Juvenile stages apparently do not feed and undergo three molts to becom immature females.. Soon after the final molt, the vermiform immature adult female becomes infective and penetrates host roots with the anterior part of the body, the posterior part remaining outside the root. Feeding incites hypertrophy and nurse cell formation in the pericycle and endodermis. Destruction of epidermal and cortical cells during pebnetration and establishment of the feeding site results in browning and necrosis of surrounding tissue. About one week after root penetration, the immature female body on the root surface enlarges to a typical kidney shape. The female secretes a gelatinous matrix that encases her body on the surface of the root and eggs are deposited (75-100) within the matrix (Dasgupta and Raski, 1968; Jatala, 2020; Mitchell, 2024).
Host Plant Resistance, Non-hosts and Crop Rotation alternatives:
Dasgupta, D.R. and Raski, D.J. The biology of Rotylenchulus parvus.s Nematologica 14:429-440
Heyns, J. 1976. CIH Desaiptions of Plant-parasitic Nemaodes #83
Jatala, P., 2020. Reniform and false root-knot nematodes, Rotylenchulus and Nacobbus spp. In Manual of Agricultural Nmatology (pp. 509-528). CRC Press.
Konicek, D.E., 1963. A plant-parasitic nematode of the genus Rotylenchulus found in California. Phytopathology, 13:1140
Martin, H.J. 2024. California Pest Rating Proposal for Rotylenchulus parvus (Williams) Sher, 1961. California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sacramento, California, USA.
Williams, J.R., 1960. Studies on the nematode soil fauna of sugar cane fields in Mauritius. 4. Tylenchoidea (partim). Occasional Papers, Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute, 4:1-30.