Axonchium amplicolle Cobb, 1920

Ahmad, Wasim & Naz, Tabbasam, 2010, Four new and one known species of Belondiroidea (Dorylaimida: Nematoda) from Japan, Journal of Natural History 44 (25 - 26), pp. 1509-1530 : 1519

Axonchium amplicolle Cobb, 1920

( Table 2)

Habitat and locality

Forest trees (unidentified), from Ishigaki Islands, south Japan, Japan.

Remarks

Cobb (1920) proposed the genus Axonchium with Axonchium amplicolle as its type species collected from Brazil. Thorne (1939) redescribed this species based on the study of type material. Jairajpuri (1964) reported it from India and later synonymized Discolaimium pakistanicum Timm and Bhuiyan, 1963 with this species ( Jairajpuri 1965). Nair (1973) provided a detailed description of A. amplicolle and synonymized Axonchium mauritiens Williams, 1958 and Axonchium amphidium Thorne, 1964 with it. Dhanachand and Jairajpuri (1981) reported the first male of this species. Heyns and Frustenberg (1993) reported another solitary male from islands in the Western Indian Ocean. The present population of A. amplicolle from Japan conforms well to the earlier descriptions except for having slight morphometric variations. The Japanese specimens differ from the Brazil population, in having slightly longer body (L = 1.6–1.8 vs 1.57 mm), slightly shorter pharynx (b = 2.2–2.4 vs 2.0), slightly anterior vulva (V = 53.7–55.7 vs 56.5) and in having a longer tail (c = 61–66.6 vs 75; c’ = 0.7 vs 0.75). It differs from the Indian population in having slightly robust body (a = 33.6–36.7 vs 40–45) and from the Mauritius population in having slightly shorter odontostyle (10 vs 11-12). It differs from the Puerto Rico population in having a slightly longer tail (c = 61–66.6 vs 69.5–76).