Subfamily MELOIDOGYNINAE

                                 Rev. 07/02/24

Classification:

      Tylenchida
       Tylenchina
        Tylenchoidea
         Meloidogynidae

          Meloidogyninae Skarbilovich, 1959

Morphology and Anatomy:

• Cuticle not abnormally thick, annulated in all stages of the male and female. 
• Cephalic framework with medium sclerotization; lateral sectors equal to or wider than submedian sectors. 

Female:

• Sedentary, globose with projecting neck. 
• No pre-adult vermiform female stage. 
• Cuticle moderately thick; annulation forming fingerprint-like pattern around vulva and anus.
• Labial disc dumb-bell shaped, not detached from labial sectors. 
• Cephalic framework and spear delicate. 
• Excretory pore anterior to median esophageal bulb, often only slightly posterior to stylet base. 
• Vulva and anus terminal; perineal region flush or slightly raised. 
• No cyst stage. Eggs not retained in female body but deposited in a gelatinous matrix (exception: Meloidogyne spartinae where eggs are deposited individually without gelatinous matrix). 

Male:

• Labial area low, not set-off, irregularly annulated. 
• Lateral field with four lines. 

Juveniles:

• Second-stage juveniles migratory, vermiform. 
• Cephalic framework and spear delicate. 
• Labial area not set-off. 
• Late second-stage sedentary, swollen (spike-tailed). 
• Third and fourth stages occurring within the second stage cuticle, devoid of stylet.

 Feeding Biology:

• Sedentary, causing galls on roots. 
• Incite multinucleate giant cells resulting from karyokinesis in the absence of cytokinesis.
• Suppress pathogen-triggered immunity (PTI) responses; a possible mol;ecule for effector-triggered suppression is chorismate mutase produced in the esophageal glands.  In PTI responses, chorismate is converted to salicylic acid to iniate the defense events.  Chorismate mutase from the nematode reduces chorismate, and thus salicylic acid (Smant and Jones, 2011).

References:

Luc, Maggenti & Fortuner, Rev. Nematol. 11:159-176 (1988).

Smant, G., Jones, J. 2011.  Suppression of plant defences by nematodes.  Chapter 13, pp 273-286. In Jones, J., Gheysen, G., Fenoll, C. (eds).  Genomics and Molecular Genetics of Plant-Nematode Interactions.  Springer, NY.

Subbotin, S.A., Palomares-Rius, J.E., Castillo, P. 2021.Systematics of Root-knot Nematodes (Nematoda: Meloidogynidae) In Hunt, D.J. and Perry, R.N. (eds) Nematology Monographs and Perspectives 14. Brill, Leiden 857p.

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