Xiphinemella esseri

Xiphinemella esseri	Contents	Rev: 11/18/2022
	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Xiphinemella Menu	Economic Importance	Ecosystem Functions and Services
	Distribution	Management
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Xiphinemellinae

Xiphinemella esseri Chitwood, 1957

Synonyms:

Morphology and Anatomy:

Slender nematodes 2.30 to 3.32mm long.
Body cylindrical, tapering toward both extremities, but more so toward anterior end.
Cuticle 1.5 to 2.0um thick in anterior region and mid-body, and 2 to 3um in tail region;
Cuticle tylencholaimoid, with irregularly outlined inner layer with abundant radial refractive elements, and a smooth outer layer.
Lateral chord 30 to 39% of mid-body diameter.
Lip region offset by deep constriction, 3.0 to 3.3 times as broad as high and 33-41% of body diameter at neck base; lips separated, with distinct but low, slightly protruding labial and cephalic papillae; labial disc distinct.
Amphid fovea cup-shaped, its aperture 51-58% of lip region diameter.
Cheilostom nearly cylindrical, lacking any differentiation.
Odontostyle long and attenuated, 1.38 to 2.05% of body length; aperture minute. Odontophore well developed, with prominent basal flanges, 0.7 to 0.8 times the odontostyle length. Guiding ring simple.
Anterior region of pharynx slender and weakly muscular, basal expansion a cylindroid bulb 3.5 to 4.4 times as long as wide, Cardia conoid to rounded; a ring-like structure surrounding its junction with pharyngeal base.
Nerve ring located at 39% of total neck length.


Males: Genital system diorchic, with testes opposed. An adcloacal pair and a series of 8 to 10 irregularly spaced ventromedian supplements. Spicules dorylaimoid, robust, weakly curved ventrad, 1.3 to 1.5 times as long as acloacal body diameter. Lateral guiding pieces 14.0 to 14.5um long,. Prerectum 15.3 to 24.2 um, cloaca 1.4 to 1.6 the corresponding body diameters long. Tail rounded conoid, ventrally slightly concave and dorsally convex; three pairs of caudal pores, two lateral, one subdorsal. Females: Didelphic, amphidelphic.ovaries small. Vagina extending inwards 47-50% of body diameter. Vulva near 50% of body length. Tail short and rounded; three pairs of caudal pores, two laterals, one subdorsal.
Ref: Alvarez-Ortega et al., 2021


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

Described from samples taken from soil under the canopy of live oak trees (Quercus virginiana Mill.) in north Florida, USA. The original type locality of Chitwood (1957) now developed for housing (Alvarez-Ortega et al, 2021).

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Economic Importance:

Xiphinemella esseri has been moved with infetsed oak trees over a long period of time. That is of consequence if the nematode is shown to have plant-parasitic habits.

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Feeding:

Xiphinemella species have been reported associated with forest trees and herbaceous plants such as cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.), rice (Oryza sativa L.) and others (De Bruin and Heyns, 1991). However, there are no reports on the feeding habits of these species. So far, the species X. esseri has been found only in Florida, where it is often associated with oak trees such as live oak and Spanish oak or Southern red oak (Quercus falcata Michx.). Many longidorids such as Longidorus longicaudatus (Siddiqi, 1962), species of Xiphinema americanum group and Xiphinema setariae (Luc, 1958) feed on oak roots and are sometimes associated with X. esseri. It is possible that X. esseri may have plant parasitic habits as suggested by Chitwood (1957) but parasitism of this and oyher species of the genus has not been scientifically demonstrated. (Alvarez-Ortega et al., 2021)

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