Pratylenchus flakkensis, Seinhorst 1968

Alvani, Somaye, Mahdikhani-Moghadam, Esmat, Rouhani, Hamid & Mohammadi, Abbas, 2016, A checklist of the family Pratylenchidae Thorne, 1949 from Iran, Zootaxa 4079 (2), pp. 179-204 : 186

10. P. flakkensis Seinhorst 1968

(Pachenari Torghabe et al. 2014) 6♀: L = 430 (420–435) µm; a = 22.9 (22.1–24); b = 5.3 (5–5.5); c = 18.4 (18.1– 18.7); c' = 2 (1.9–2.2); St = 17 (16.8–17.5) µm; V = 78.8 (78–80); V´ = 83.3 (82–84.6)

Associated plants and locality. Vegetables (Razavi Khorasan).

References. Pachenari Torghabe, M. et al., Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, 2012, pers. com; Pachenari Torghabe et al. 2014 [F].

Remarks. The Iranian population of P. flakkensis closely corresponds to the original description (Seinhorst 1968). It is characterized by having a labial region with two annuli, lateral fields with four lines, rounded spermatheca filled with sperm, and subcylindrical tail with annulated tip (there are 18–19 annuli on ventral side of the tail). Three species, P. loosi Loof 1960 , P. alleni Ferris 1961 and P. convallariae Seinhorst 1959 are close to P. flakkensis . Comparison of type materials of P. flakkensis with these three species was made. The Iranian population of P. flakkensis differs from P. loosi by having an annulated vs smooth tail tip and rounded vs rectangular spermatheca, from P. alleni by annulated vs smooth tail tip, length of the stylet (16.8–17.5 vs 13.5–15µm) and single row of oocytes vs double and from P. convallariae by two vs three lip annuli, long vs short postvulval uterine sac and annulations of the tail tip (regular vs irregular).