Meloidogyne brasiliensis Charchar & Eisenback, 2002 is a junior synonym of M. ethiopica Whitehead, 1968

Abstract

The type population ofMeloidogyne brasiliensisis synonymised underM. ethiopicabased on morphological and morphometric similarities, as well as through biochemical, molecular and phylogenetic studies.Meloidogyne ethiopicawas first described in 1968 in Tanzania using specimens from a single egg mass culture on tomato and re-described in 2004 using an isolate from Brazil.Meloidogyne brasiliensiswas described in 2002 in Brazil based on specimens collected from tomato (type population) and pea. Morphological and morphometric studies of their descriptions showed important similarities in major characters as well as some general variability in others. Characterisation of esterase isozyme phenotypes of three populations ofM. ethiopicafrom Brazil, Chile and Kenya, and twoM. brasiliensispopulations, resulted in only one esterase pattern (E3), a phenotype already known forM. ethiopica. In PCR assays, the species-specific 350 bp SCAR marker developed forM. ethiopicawas amplified from theM. brasiliensispopulations tested. In phylogenetic analyses based either on sequences of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 and D2-D3 (28S) rRNA regions or on RAPD and AFLP data, the populations of both species clustered together with a strong bootstrap support. Altogether, these results provide congruent evidence thatM. brasiliensisis not a valid species but rather a junior synonym ofM. ethiopica.