Skip to main content
Have a personal or library account? Click to login
First report of Helicotylenchus microlobus, Mesocriconema nebraskense and Meloidogyne naasi from turfgrass in Utah, USA, based on comprehensive morphological, morphometric, and molecular data Cover

First report of Helicotylenchus microlobus, Mesocriconema nebraskense and Meloidogyne naasi from turfgrass in Utah, USA, based on comprehensive morphological, morphometric, and molecular data

Open Access
|Oct 2026

References

  1. Bélair, G., Simard, L., and Eisenback, J. D. 2006. First report of the barley root-knot nematode Meloidogyne naasi infecting annual bluegrass on a golf course in Quebec, Canada. Plant Disease 90:1109.
  2. Braithwate, E., Starchvick, R. J., Kwalewski, A. R., Temple, T. N., Baker, H., Kitner, M., Peetz, A. B., Zasada, I. A., and Rivedal, H. M. 2025. A community analysis of plant-parasitic nematodes on coastal Oregon golf coure putting greens. Plant Disease 109:2416–2425.
  3. Brzeski, M. W. 1998. Nematodes of Tylenchina in Poland and temperate Europe, Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.
  4. Cassidy, G. H. 1930. Nematode associated with sugar cane in Hawaii. Hawaiian Planters Records 34:379–387.
  5. Chaves, E., and Torres, M. S. 2000. Nematode fauna associated with golf courses in the south-eastern region of the Buenos Aires province. Nematofauna asociada a campos de golf en el sudeste de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Revista de la Facultad de Agronomía (Universidad de Buenos Aires) 20:379–386.
  6. Crow, W. 2005. Plant parasitic nematodes on golf course turf. Pest Management 12:10–15.
  7. Crow, W. T., Habteweld, A., and Bean, T. 2020. Mist chamber extraction for improved diagnosis of Meloidogyne spp. from golf course bermudagrass. Journal of Nematology 52:e2020–96.
  8. Crow, W. T., Luc, J. E., Sekora, N. S., Pang, W. 2013. Interaction between Belonolaimus longicaudatus and Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus on bermudagrass and seashore paspalum hosts. Journal of Nematology 45:17–20.
  9. Dalmasso, A. and Berge, J. B. 1978. Molecular polymorphism and phylogenetic relationships in some Meloidogyne spp.: Application to the taxonomy of Meloidogyne. Journal of Nematology 10:323–332.
  10. Firoza, K., and Maqbool, M. A. 1994. A diagnostic compendium of the genus Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945 (Nematoda: Hoplolaimidae). Pakistan Journal of Nematology 12:11–50.
  11. Fortuner, R., Louis, P. Y., and Geniet, D. 2018. On the morphometric identity of populations of Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus (Steiner, 1914) Golden, 1956 (Tylenchida: Hoplolaimidae). Nematology 20:423–439.
  12. Fortuner, R., Maggenti, A. R., and Whittaker, L. M. 1984. Morphometrical variability in Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945. 4: Study of field populations of H. pseudorobustus and related species. Revue de Nématologie 7:121–135.
  13. Franklin, M. T. 1965. A root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne naasi n. sp., on field crops in England and Wales. Nematologica 11:79–86.
  14. Golden, A. M. 1970. Classification of the genera and higher categories of the order Tylenchida (Nematoda). In: Zuckerman, B. M., Mai, W. F. and Rohde, R. A. (Eds.), Plant Parasitic Nematodes. Volume 1. Morphology, Anatomy, Taxonomy and Ecology. Academic Press Inc., New York and London, pp. 191–232.
  15. Hooper, D. J. 1970. Handling, fixing, staining and mounting nematodes. In Laboratory Methods For Work With Plant And Soil Nematodes. 5th edition, pp. 39–54. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
  16. Huelsenbeck, J. P., and Ronquist, F. 2001. MR BAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogenetic trees. Bioinformatics 17:1754–755.
  17. Jagdale, G. B., Ali, M. E., Waliullah, S., Hajihassani, A., Martin, K., and Martinez-Espinoza, A. D. 2020. First report of the spiral nematode Helicotylenchus microlobus infecting Paspalum vaginatum, seashore paspalum turfgrass, in Georgia, USA. Plant Disease 104:2739.
  18. Jenkins, W. R. 1964. A rapid centrifugal-flotation technique for separating nematodes from soil. Plant Disease Reporter 48:692.
  19. Kanzaki, N., and Futai, K. 2002. A PCR primer set for determination of phylogenetic relationships of Bursaphelenchus species within the xylophilus-group. Nematology 4:35–41.
  20. Karssen, G., Bolk, R. J., Vanaelst, A. C., Vanden Beld, I., Kox, L.F.F., Korthals, G., Molendijk, L., Zijlstra, C., Van Hoof, R., and Cook, R. 2004. Description of Meloidogyne minor n. sp. (Nematoda: Meloidogynidae), a root-knot nematode associated with yellow patch disease in golf courses. Nematology 6:59–72.
  21. Larget, B., and Simon, D. L. 1999. Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms for the Bayesian analysis of phylogenetic trees. Molecular Biology and Evolution 16:750–759.
  22. Loof, P. A. A., and De Grisse, A. 1989. Taxonomic and nomenclatorial observations on the genus Criconemella De Grisse & Loof, 1965. Sensu Luc & Raski, 1981. Mededelingen Faculteit Landbouwwetenschappen Rijksuniversiteit Gent 54:53–74.
  23. Maas, P. W. T. and Maenhout, C. A. A. A. 1978. The grass root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne naasi) on sugar beet. Gewasbescherming 9:159–166.
  24. McClure, M. A., Nischwitz, C., Skantar, A. M., Schmitt, M. E., and Subbotin, S. A. 2012. Root-knot nematodes in golf course greens of the western United States. Plant Disease 96:635–647.
  25. Michell, R. E., Malek, R. B., Taylor, D. P., and Edwards, D. I. 1973. Races of the barley root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne naasi. I. Characterization by host preference. Journal of Nematology 5:41–44.
  26. Mwamula, A. O., and Lee, D. W. 2021. Occurrence of plant-parasitic nematodes of turfgrass in Korea. The Plant Pathology Journal 37:446–454.
  27. Mwamula, A. O., Kabir, Md. F., Lee, G., Choi, I. H., Kim, Y. H., Bae, E. J., and Lee, D. W. 2020b. Morphological characterisation and molecular phylogeny of several species of Criconematina (Nematoda: Tylenchida) associated with turfgrass in Korea, as inferred from ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA. Nematology 22:939–956.
  28. Mwamula, A. O., Kwon, O. G., Kwon, C., Kim, Y. S., Kim, Y. H., and Lee, D. W. 2024. A revision of the phylogeny of Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945 (Tylenchida: Hoplolaimidae) as inferred from ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA. The Plant Pathology Journal 40:171–191.
  29. Mwamula, A. O., Lee, G., Kim, Y. H., Kim, Y. H., Lee, K. S., and Lee, D. W. 2021. Molecular phylogeny of several species of Hoplolaimina (Nematoda: Tylenchida) associated with turfgrass in Korea, with comments on their morphology. Nematology 23:559–576.
  30. Mwamula, A. O., Na, H., Kim, Y. H., Kim, Y. H., Han, G. and Lee, D. W. 2020a. Characterization of a new spiral nematode, Helicotylenchus asiaticus n. sp., and three known species from Korea; with comments on the validity of Helicotylenchus microlobus Perry in Perry, Darling and Thorne, 1959. European Journal of Plant Pathology 157:565–581.
  31. Nadler, S. A., Bolotin, E., and Stock, S. P. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships of Steinernema Travassos, 1927 (Nematoda: Cephalobina: Steinernematidae) based on nuclear, mitochondrial, and morphological data. Systematic Parasitology 63:161–181.
  32. Nunn, G. B. 1992. Nematode molecular evolution. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Nottingham, UK.
  33. Oka, Y., Karssen, G., and Mor, M. 2003. Identification, host range and infection process of Meloidogyne marylandi from turf grass in Israel. Nematology 5:727–734.
  34. Oliveira, S. A., Oliveira, C. M. G., Maleita, C. M. N., Silva, M. F. A., Abrantes, I. M. O., and Wilcken, S. R. S. 2018. First report of Meloidogyne graminis on golf courses turfgrass in Brazil. PLoS One 13: e0192397.
  35. Olson M., Harris T., Higgins R., Mullin P., Powers K., Olson S., and Powers T. O. 2017. Species delimitation and description of Mesocriconema nebraskense n. sp. (Nematoda: Criconematidae), a morphologically cryptic, parthenogenetic species from North American grasslands. Journal of Nematology 49: 42–66.
  36. Palomares-Rius, J. E., Cantalapiedra-Navarrete, C., Archidona-Yuste, A., Vovlas, N., Tzortzakakis, E. A., and Castillo, P. 2018. Molecular and morphological characterization of the spiral nematode Helicotylenchus oleae Inserra, Vovlas and Golden, 1979 (Nematoda: Hoplolaimidae) in the Mediterranean Basin. European Journal of Plant Pathology 150:881–891.
  37. Pang, W., Luc, J. E., Crow, W. T., Kenworthy, K. E., Giblin-Davis, R. M., McSorley, R., and Kruse, J. K. 2012. Field responses of bermudagrass and seashore paspalum to sting and spiral nematodes. Journal of Nematology 43:201–208.
  38. Pang, W., Luc, J. E., Crow, W. T., Kenworthy, K. E., McSorley, R., Kruse, J. K., and Giblin-Davis, R. M. 2011. Responses of seashore paspalum cultivars to sting and spiral nematodes. Crop Science 51:2864–2867.
  39. Perry, V. G., Darling, H. M., and Thorne, G. 1959. Anatomy, taxonomy and control of certain spiral nematodes attacking blue grass in Wisconsin. Research Bulletin, University of Wisconsin 207:1–24.
  40. Person-Dedryver, F., Gueye, P. S., and Boulch, M. F. 1987. Grasses as hosts of Meloidogyne naasi Franklin: II. Study of nematode populations and their effects on yield of three varieties. Nematologica 33:72–82.
  41. Posada, D., and Crandall, K. A. 1998. Modeltest: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics 14:817–818.
  42. Powers, T. O., Harris, T. S., Higgins, R. S., Mullin, P. G., and Powers, K. S. 2021. Nematode biodiversity assessments need vouchered databases: A BOLD reference library for plant-parasitic nematodes in the superfamily Criconematoidea. Genome, 64:232–241.
  43. Roberts, P. A., Van Gundy, S. D., and Waines, J. G. 1982. Reaction of wild and domesticated Triticum and Aegilops species to root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne). Nematologica 28: 182–191.
  44. Rybarczyk-Mydłowska, K., Dmowska, E., and Kowalewska, K. 2019. Phylogenetic studies on three Helicotylenchus species based on 28S rDNA and mtCOI sequence data. Journal of Nematology 51:1–17.
  45. Sánchez-Arce, O., Palacios-Espinosa, A., Carillo-Fasio, J., Hernandez-Montiel, L. G., Hernández-Rubio, J. S., and Romero, M. 2021. Diversity and distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes on golf courses in localities of Baja California Sur, Mexico. Revista de la Facultad de Agronomía La Univ. Del Zulia 38:651–660.
  46. Sauer, M. R., and Winoto, R. 1975. The genus Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945 in West Malaysia. Nematologica 21:341–350.
  47. Sher, S. A. 1966. Revision of the Hoplolaiminae (Nematoda). VI. Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945. Nematologica 12:1–56.
  48. Shokoohi, E., Marais, M., Mashela, P. W., and Divsalar, N. 2021. Morphological and molecular variations within Helicotylenchus vulgaris. Biologia 76:549–563.
  49. Siddiqi, M. R. 1972. On the genus Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945 (Nematoda: Tylenchida), with descriptions of nine new species. Nematologica 18:74–91.
  50. Siddiqi, M. R., Mukherjee, B., and Dasgupta, M. K. 1982. Tylenchorhynchus microconus’n. sp., T. crassicaudatus leviterminalis’n. subsp. and T. coffeae Siddiqi and Bask, 1959 (Nematoda: Tylenchida). Systematic Parasitology 4: 257–262.
  51. Skantar, A. M., Handoo, Z. A., Kantor, M. R., and Hult, M. N. 2023. First report of barley root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne naasi from turfgrass in Idaho, with multigene molecular characterization. Journal of Nematology 55: e20232024.
  52. Subbotin, S. A., Inserra, R. N., Marais, M., Mullin, P., Powers, T., Roberts, P. A., Van den Berg, E., Yeates, G. W., and Baldwin, J. G. 2011. Diversity and phylogenetic relationships within the spiral nematodes of Helicotylenchus Steiner, 1945 (Tylenchida: Hoplolaimidae) as inferred from analysis of the D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA gene sequences. Nematology 13: 333–345.
  53. Subbotin, S. A., Vovlas, N., Yeates, G. W., Hallmann, J., Kiewnick, S., Chizhov, V. N., Manzanilla-Lopez, R. H., Inserra, R. N., and Castillo, P. 2015. Morphological and molecular characterization of Helicotylenchus pseudorobustus (Steiner, 1914) Golden, 1956 and related species (Tylenchida: Hoplolaimidae) with a phylogeny of the genus. Nematology 17:27–52.
  54. Tamura, K., Peterson, D., Peterson, N., Stecher, G., Nei, M., and Kumar, S. 2011. MEGA5: Molecular evolutionary genetic analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution 28:2731–2739.
  55. Taylor, D. P. 1961. Biology and host-parasite relationships of the spiral nematode, Helicotylenchus microlobus. Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington 28:60–66.
  56. Vandenbossche, B., Viaene, N., De Sutter, N., Maes, M., Kareeen, G., and Bert, W. 2011. Diversity and incidence of plant-parasitic nematodes in Belgian turf grass. Nematology 13:245–256.
  57. Vieira dos Santos, M. C., Almeida, M. T. M., and Cost, S. R. 2020. First report of Meloidogyne naasi parasitizing turfgrass in Portugal. Journal of Nematology 52:1–4. DOI: 10.21307/jofnem-2020-088
  58. Williams, B. D., Schrank, B., Huynh, C., Shownkeen, R., and Waterston, R. H. 1992. A genetic mapping system in Caenorhabditis elegans based on polymorphic sequence-tagged sites. Genetics 131:609–624.
  59. Xia, Y., Li, J., Xu, F., Lei, B., Li, H., Wang, K., and Li, Y. 2022. Identification and a culture method for a Helicotylenchus microlobus from tomato in China. BMC Zoology 7:42.
  60. Yan, G., Plaisance, A., Huang, D., and Handoo, Z. A. 2017. First report of the spiral nematode Helicotylenchus microlobus infecting soybean in North Dakota. Journal of Nematology 49:1.
  61. Yan, G., Plaisance, A., Huang, D., Baidoo, R., Ransom, J. K., and Handoo, Z. A. 2018. First report of the ring nematode Mesocriconema nebraskense from a corn field in North Dakota. Journal of Nematology 50:531–532.
  62. Ye, W. 1996. Applying Microsoft Works spread sheet in statistics for morphometric data of nematode identification. Afro-Asian Journal of Nematology 6:203–211.
  63. Ye, W., Giblin-Davis, R. M., Braasch, H., Morris, K., and Thomas, W. K. 2007. Phylogenetic relationships among Bursaphelenchus species (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchidae) inferred from nuclear ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43:1185–1197.
  64. Ye, W., Robbins, R. T., and Kirkpatrick, T. 2019. Molecular characterization of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) from Arkansas, USA. Scientific Reports 9:15680.
  65. Ye, W., Zeng, Y., and Kerns, J. 2015. Molecular characterization and diagnosis of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) from turfgrasses in North Carolina, USA. PLoS One 10:e0143556.
  66. Yu, Q., Potter, J. W., and Gilby, G. 1998. Plant-parasitic nematodes associated with turfgrass in golf courses in southern Ontario. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology 20:304–307.
  67. Yuen, P. H. 1964. Four new species of Helicotylenchus Steiner (Hoplolaiminae: Tylenchida) and a redescription of H. canadensis Waseem, 1961. Nematologica 10:373–387.
  68. Zameleh, F. M., Karegar, A., Ghaderi, R., and Hesar, A. M. 2020. Morphological and molecular characterisation of Helicotylenchus ciceri n. sp. and H. scoticus Boag and Jairajpuri, 1985 (Nematoda: Hoplolaimidae) from Iran. Nematology 22:611–626.
  69. Zeng, Y., Chen, X., Ni, Y., Zhao, C., Kerns, J., Tredway, L., and Roberts, J. 2022. Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Prevalent Plant-Parasitic Nematodes from Turfgrasses in Guangdong, China. Horticulturae 8:611.
  70. Zeng, Y., Ye, W., Kerns, J., Tredway, L., Martin, S., and Martin, M. 2015. Molecular characterization and phylogenetic relationships of plant-parasitic nematodes associated with turfgrasses in North and South Carolina, United States. Plant Disease 99:982–993.
  71. Zeng, Y., Ye, W., Tredway, L., Martin, S. and Martin, M. 2012a. Taxonomy and morphology of plant-parasitic nematodes associated with turfgrasses in North and South Carolina, USA. Zootaxa 3452:1–46.
  72. Zeng, Y., Ye, W., Martin, S., Martin, M., and Tredway, L. 2012b. Diversity and occurrence of nematodes associated with turfgrasses in North and South Carolina, USA. Journal of Nematology 44:345–355.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jofnem-2026-0033 | Journal eISSN: 2640-396X | Journal ISSN: 0022-300X
Language: English
Page range: 623 - 644
Submitted on: Mar 26, 2026
Accepted on: Jul 27, 2026
Published on: Oct 30, 2026
Published by: Society of Nematologists, Inc.
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2026 Yongsan Zeng, Adam Van Dyke, Joseph A. Roberts, published by Society of Nematologists, Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.