Rev 03/27/2020
Tylenchina
Tylenchoidea
Merliniidae Ryss, 1998
Two subfamilies:
Merliniinae and Pratylenchoidinae
As of 2016, all members of the Merliniinae are ectoparasites of plant roots while all members of Pratylenchoidinae are migratory endo parasites of plant roots.
Presence of deirids and molecular phylogenetic studies support transfer of subfamily Merliniinae from Telotylenchidae and the genus Pratylenchoides from Pratylenchidae to the family Merliniidae, with Merliniinae and Pratylenchoidinae as subfamilies (Sturhan, 2012).
The genera of Merliniinae include Geocenamus, Merlinius, Amplimerlinius, Paramerlinius, Scutylenchus and Nagelus (Sturhan, 2012). The Pratylenchoidinae includes Pratylenchoides.
Although the taxonomic status of species designated in the genus Scutylenchus has been shifted or synonymized by different workers, and the diagnostic characteristics of Geocenamus, Merlinius and Scutylenchus have been re-defined several times, Xu et al (2012) suggest that the diagnostic characters of these genera are useful and reliable and that the genera are all valid.
Many diagnostic features for species separation are difficult to detect by light microsopy (Powers et al., 1983)..
Azizi, K.,
Ali Eskandari, Akbar
Karegar, Reza
Ghaderi, Sven
van den Elsen, Martijn
Holterman and Johannes
Helder. 2016. Morphological and
molecular data support the monophyletic nature of the genus Pratylenchoides Winslow,
1958 (Nematoda: Merliniidae) and reveal its intrageneric structuring.
Nematology 18:1165-1183.