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The Genus Meloidogyne Goeldi
The Genus Meloidogyne Goeldi
The root-knot
nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne are one of the most important
plant parasitic nematodes with an extensive host range and wide
distribution in temperate as well as tropical areas of the world. It is
of historical as well as nematological interest since sustained
nematological investigations all over the world have started with this
organism. A brief account of its historical aspects is given here
because of the importance of the nematode.
The
root-knot disease was first reported in 1855, on the glasshouse grown
cucumbers in England by Berkeley who named the nematode as 'Vibrios'. It
was later described under the name of Anguillula radicicola.
At a later date, Cornu recorded root galls on sainfoin and as he was
not aware of the first name, he gave the name Anguillula marioni.
Muller in 1884 observed some eggs within the females and described
them as Heterodera radicicola. Goeldi in 1889 named the root-knot
nematodes on coffee as Meloidogyne extern (this paper was
actually printed in 1892). Some other designations used during that
period were: Anguillula arenaria, Tylenchus arena-rius, A. violas,
Heterodera marioni and Oxyuris iicognita. Cobb in 1924
erected the genus or submenus Caconema for the root-knot
nematodes as related to Heterodera. Goodey (1932), while
reviewing the status of the root-knot nematodes, did not favour a
separate genus for them and preferred to call them Heterodera marloni.
The
nomenclatorial confusion continued till about the middle of the
twentieth century when Chitwood revived the genus Meloido-gye,
originally erected by Goeldi in 1892 and recognized four existing
species namely, M. exigua Got Id i, 1892; M.javanica Treub,
1885 ; M. incognito Kofoid and White, 1919 ; and M. arenaria
Neal, 1889. A new species M. hapla and a new variety M.
incognita acrita were added in the list. Subsequently, many new
species were described. Presently, there are 61 species and two
sub-species under this genus. The most common species encountered
throughout the world are M. incognita, M.javanica, M. arenaria
and M, hapla.
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The Genus Meloidogyne Goeldi
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