Author response: A host beetle pheromone regulates development and behavior in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus

Pristionchus trametes n. sp. (Diplogastridae) isolated from the mushroom Trametes orientalis in Kyoto, Japan

“…The genus Pristionchus (Kreis, 1932) consists of approximately 60 nominal species (Herrmann et al, 2015;Kanzaki et al, 2021;Sudhaus and Fürst von Lieven, 2003), and the flagship species of the genus, P. pacificus Sommer, Carta, kim & Sternburg, 1996, has become a research model organism in many fields, especially in developmental biology due to its environmentdependent stomatal dimorphism, i.e., phenotypic plasticity (e.g., Lightfoot et al, 2019;Ragsdale et al, 2013;Sommer, 2009. The species in the genus are divergent, and the genus can be used as a model system not only in laboratory studies but also in field ecology, evolutionary biology, and population genetics (e.g., Cinkornpumin et al, 2014;Herrmann et al, 2010;Morgan et al, 2014;Renahan et al, 2021;Rödelsperger et al, 2018).…”

Four Pristionchus species associated with two mass-occurring Parafontaria laminata populations

“…Biologically, Pristionchus is phoretic and necromenic nematodes. The nematodes are isolated from their host/carrier insects as dauer ( = dormant and dispersal) stage, which can be reared on artificial media, suggesting phoretic association, but the worms also propagate on the carcass of their host/carrier insects utilizing the carcass as the substrate of their food bacteria (e.g., Rae et al, 2008;Cinkornpumin et al, 2014). Thus, the insects which can be utilized in multiple ways are very important for the nematodes, and the genus possibly provide an insight for analyzing evolution of feeding preference and host/carrier usage.…”