Rev 07/02/2024
Tylenchida Tylenchina Tylenchoidea Meloidogynidae Meloidogyninae
Meloidogyne hapla Chitwood, 1949
Northern root-knot nematode
Review general characteristics of the genus Meloidogyne.
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:
Temperate regions or at higher altitudes in warmer areas worldwide; also occurs on alfalfa in southern California.
C-rated pests in Californian Nematode Pest Rating System.
Sedentary endoparasite.
Feeding site establishment and development typical of genus.
Type Host: Potato (Solanum tuberosum).
Over 550 hosts listed by 1965; these include vegetables, clover, alfalfa, and ornamentals.
Ecophysiological Parameters:
Minimum, optimum, and maximum temperatures (C) recorded for M. hapla:
Reproduction in M.hapla is usually parthenogenic but can also be sexual. However, when sexual crosses were made between diploid and polyploid isolates of a population, some of the offspring were hermaphroditic (Triantaphyllou, 1993). This is the only known case of hermaphroditism in the Tylenchida, although it is known in the Rhabditida and Mononchida. It is considered an abberation in that hermaphrodites were morphological females in which the gonad initially produced eggs and then converted to sperm production. By the time sperm were produced, eggs had a hardened shell and could not be fertilized. That differs from Caenorhabditis elegans in which the gonad produces about 300 sperm late in the 4th juvenile stage. Those sperm are stored in the spermatheca and fertilize eggs that are produced later.
Since M. hapla hermaphrodites produced only a few eggs before converting to sperm production, understanding the underlying mechanism could result in manipulation of the lifecycle to reduce population growth (Triantaphyllou, 1993).
Small spherical galls, often with root proliferation at gall.
Some recorded yield losses include:
Meloidogyne hapla is also associated with other pathogens in disease complexes.
Clean planting material by using hot water treatment (60 min. at 45.5 °C);
Dips in DBCP were used on ornamentals when that nematicide was available.
Crop rotation useful (grasses and cereals are often non-hosts).
Host Plant Resistance, Non-hosts and Crop Rotation alternatives:
CIH Descriptions of Plant-parasitic Nematodes, Set 3, No. 31 (1974)
Triantaphyllou, A.C. 1993. Hermaphroditism in Meloidogyne hapla. Journal of Nematology 25:15-26.