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Ficotylus laselvae n. sp. was recovered from under the bracts of figs (syconia) of Ficus colubrinae from La Selva, Costa Rica, during a survey of nematode rainforest biodiversity and is described herein. This is only the second report of an association between the nematode suborder Tylenchina and the sycones of figs. Previous reports of most nematode associates of the sycones of figs have been from the lumen and involved transmission by female fig wasp pollinators (Agaonidae) during pollination/oviposition (e.g., Schistonchus and Parasitodiplogaster spp.). The association between F. laselvae n. sp. and Ficus colubrinae may involve an invertebrate host, but none was recovered from dissections of the bracts during this study. It is also possible that this is a rainforest understory nematode that feeds ectoparasitically in protected areas on the aerial parts of F. colubrinae. Molecular analysis using near-full-length sequences of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA and D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit (LSU) rRNA genes of Ficotylus laselvae n. sp. suggests that it is a member of the suborder Tylenchina (infraorder: Tylenchomorpha; family: Anguinidae) and that the closest sequenced species is F. congestae from the lumen of sycones of Ficus congesta from Queensland, Australia. Although both nematode species are associated with figs, they are morphologically divergent, suggesting that the different micro-niches that they fill provide different selective pressures for evolution of differing morphological characters or they represent different life history morphotypes of a dicyclic genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ficus benjamina (Moracaeae subfamily Urostigma, section Conosycea) grows naturally in tropical Asia and in Australia in the north of the Northern Territory and the Cairns region of Queensland. It is widely grown as an ornamental in more temperate regions of Australia. Schistonchus benjamhza sp. n. is described from sycones of F. benjamina in Brisbane, and is differentiated from other species of Schistonchus by a combination of morphological characters including having the excretory pore opening near the head, a short post-vulval uterine sac, rose thorn-shaped spicule, lightly sclerotised stylet and spicule, and three pairs of subventral papillae on the tail (one adcloacal, one at mid-tail length and one near the tail tip); and apparent biogeographical range. Phylogenetic analyses based on D3 sequences from collections from both northern and southern Queensland suggest that S. benjamina sp. n. is a species complex, but specimens from the different locations cannot be separated on morphological or morphometric data. Schistonchus benjamina sp. n. is closest to S. microcarpus from F. microcarpa (Urostigma, section Urostigma) in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]