Morphological and molecular characterisation of Coslenchus persicus n. sp. (Nematoda: Tylenchidae) from Iran

Summary A new species of Coslenchus from north-western Iran is illustrated and described using morphological, morphometric and molecular data. Coslenchus persicus n. sp. is characterised by a medium-sized body of 694-810 μm, often 18 (seldom 20-22) longitudinal ridges excluding lateral field, head with four distinct annuli, stylet 9.6-10.8 μm long, pharyngeal basal bulb large and cylindrical, spermatheca offset and ovate, without sperm, vulval flaps extending for two annuli, 5-7 μm in length, tail striated with finely to bluntly rounded tip, 110-153 μm long and without males. The new species comes close to C. assamensis, C. diversus, C. japonicus, C. leiocephalus, C. maritus, C. multigyrus, C. paramaritus, C. pastor, and C. polonicus, but can be distinguished from all by differences in body length, stylet length and shape of basal bulb, post-vulval uterine sac, tail and certain morphometric data. Molecular data are provided for the characterisation of the new species using ribosomal genes (18S and 28S rRNA). In the 18S rRNA tree, the new species was placed in a clade including one isolate of Coslenchus sp. from Iran. In the reconstructed 28S rRNA phylogenetic tree, C. persicus n. sp. clustered with other known Coslenchus species.