Aphelenchoides iranicus n. sp (Nematoda: Aphelenchoididae) from West Azerbaijan province, Iran

Aphelenchoides iranicus n. sp. is described and illustrated from bark samples of an oak tree (Quercus sp.) in West Azerbaijan province, north-western Iran. The new species is characterised by body length of 350 (330-383) mu m in females and 343 (323-370) mu m in males, lip region set off from body contour, lateral fields with three lines, stylet 8 (7-9) mu m long with small basal swellings, excretory pore 59 (56-62) mu m from anterior end, hemizonid invisible, pharyngeal glands overlapping intestine dorsally and extending for 48 (41-54) mu m, female tail subcylindrical with many tiny finger-like appendages at the tip, and male with aphelenchoid type spicules 17.6 (17-18) mu m long. The new species comes close to nine known species of the genus namely: A. brevicaudatus, A. cibolensis, A. conimucronatus, A. editocaputis, A. montanus, A. pusillus, A. rarus, A. sphaerocephalus and A. vaughani, but differs from them by the number of incisures in the lateral field, shape of tail mucron, stylet length, size of spicules and length of post-vulval uterine sac. Additionally, this species is characterised molecularly and phylogenetically by sequences of the D2-D3 expansion segments of the 28S and partial 18S rRNA genes that are unique in relation to the sequences deposited in GenBank.