Phylogenetic position of Ptychaphelenchus eucalypticola Hodda, 2009 within the Aphelenchoidoidea Skarbilovich, 1947 (Siddiqi, 1980) inferred from partial 18S and 28S rDNA gene sequences

Abstract

Summary At the time of description, the morphology of Ptychaphelenchus eucalypticola Hodda, 2009 indicated it could be assigned to either the Aphelenchoididae Skarbilovich, 1947 (Paramonov, 1953) or the Parasitaphelenchidae Ruehm, 1956 (Siddiqi, 1980) within the Aphelenchoidoidea Skarbilovich, 1947 (Siddiqi, 1980). Although P. eucalypticola was, tentatively, and remains assigned to the Aphelenchoididae, its relationships with other aphelenchoids have not been reassessed, and no molecular data were previously available for this species. We re-collected P. eucalypticola from its type host and locality, Eucalyptus macrorhyncha F. Muell. ex Benth., from Mount Ainslie, ACT, Australia. We performed Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood analyses of a concatenated 18S + 28S rDNA gene sequence dataset to determine the position of P. eucalypticola within the Aphelenchoidoidea, followed by 18S and 28S single-gene analyses to further assess relationships between this species and an expanded set of close relatives. All analyses indicated P. eucalypticola is correctly assigned to the Aphelenchoididae, in a clade comprising all species of Ficophagus Davies & Bartholomaeus, 2015 and some species presently assigned to Aphelenchoides Fisher, 1894, sister to Martininema Davies & Bartholomaeus, 2015 and additional species of Aphelenchoides. Our 18S single-gene analyses did not resolve the position of P. eucalypticola relative to Aphelenchoides and Ficophagus; however, our 28S single-gene analyses indicated a sister relationship between P. eucalypticola and Ficophagus. This sister relationship is plausible as the former species shares many characteristics with species of the latter genus; however, there are sufficient morphological differences to consider P. eucalypticola as representative of a distinct lineage within the Aphelenchoidoidea.