Description of Meloidoderita salina sp. n. (Nematoda, Sphaeronematidae) from a micro-tidal salt marsh at Mont-Saint-Michel Bay in France

Abstract. Meloidoderita salina sp. n. is described and illustrated from the halophytic plant Atriplex portulacoides L. (sea purslane) growing in a micro-tidal salt marsh in the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay in France. This new species is the first member of Meloidoderita Poghossian, 1966 collected from a saline environment, and is characterized by the following features: sedentary mature females having a small swollen body with a clear posterior protuberance; slightly dorsally curved stylet, 19.9 µm long, with posteriorly sloping knobs; neck region irregular in shape and twisted; well developed secretory-excretory (S–E) pore, with markedly sclerotized S-E duct running posteriorly; prominent uterus bordered by a thick hyaline wall and filled with eggs. The adult female transforms into a cystoid. Eggs are deposited in both egg-mass and cystoid. Cystoids of Meloidoderita salina sp. n. display a unique sub-cuticular hexagonal beaded pattern. Male without stylet, pharyngeal region degenerated, S-E duct prominent, deirids small, developed testis 97.5 µm long, spicules 18.4 µm long, cloacal opening ventrally protruded, small phasmids posterior to cloaca opening and situated at 5.9 (3.2–7.7) µm from tail end, and conical tail ending in a rounded terminus marked with one (rarely two) ventrally positioned mucro. Additionally, some young malesof the new species were observed enveloped in the last J2 cuticle. Second-stage juvenile body 470 µm long, with a 16.4 µm long stylet, prominent rounded knobs set off from the shaft, hemizonid anterior and adjacent to S-E pore, small deirids located just above S-E pore level, genital primordium located at 68–77% of body length, phasmids small and located at about 19 µm from tail tip, and tail 38.7 µm long, tapering to finely pointed terminus with a finger-like projection. Phylogenetic analyses based on the nearly full length small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences of Meloidoderita salina sp. n. revealed a close relationship of the new species with Sphaeronema alni Turkina & Chizhov, 1986 and placed these two species sister to the rest of Criconematina.