Two known and one new species of Draconematidae and Epsilonematida (Nematoda, Desmodorida) from the White Sea, North Russia.

Morphological descriptions of three "walking nematode" species found for the first time in the White Sea are presented. Draconema ophicephalum (Claparède, 1863) (Draconematidae) and Epsilonema steineri Chitwood, 1935 (Epsilonematidae), both known from insufficient material and females only, are re-described and problems of their taxonomic identification as well as species compositions of respective genera are discussed. The new species Prochaetosoma marisalbi sp. n. (Draconematidae) differs from other Prochaetosoma species except P. longicapitatum (Allgén, 1935) in that the pharyngeal bulb lumen is not cuticularised, from P. longicapitatum by shape of body and rostrum, greater number of cephalic adhesive tubes, and from P. maertensi Decraemer, 1989 by having a relatively longer tail, fewer anterior adhesive tubes and longer spicules, besides lacking cuticular thickening in the pharyngeal bulb. Draconema hoonsooi, D. youngeouni, P.rochaetosoma beomseomense, P. brevicaudatum, P. byungilli, P. cracense, P. saheungi, P. sujungi, P. supseomense erected by Rho & Min (2011) are considered as invalid species while Prochaetosoma arcticum, P. lugubre and Epsilonema cygnoides are assumed as species inquirenda. From a phylogenetic tree based on the 18S rRNA gene, all three White Sea species adjoin to unidentified species of their respective genera.

New isolate of Mononchoides composticola Steel, Moens, Scholaert, Boshoff, Houthoofd & Bert, 2011 (Nematoda: Neodiplogasteridae) from Iran.

Mononchoides composticola was isolated during a survey on free living nematodes from vermicompost in Iran. This population of M. composticola is characterised by a dorsal claw-like tooth; 7-9 µm long and 3-5 µm wide, 14-15 finely visible longitudinal ridges on the cuticle, in which each ridge comprises two lines, long spicules (39-45 µm long), a short gubernaculum (15-17 µm or less than half of the spicule length), two pairs of precloacal papillae, five pairs of postcloacal papillae, papillae (v3) comprising three small papillae, and a long filiform tail (418-654 µm in females, 382-455 µm in males). Molecular analysis of M. composticola based on sequence of the 18S rDNA placed it close to M. composticola (GU943511; GU943512; from Belgium) and M. striatus (AY593924; from The Netherlands) in a well supported clade (1.00 posterior probability). Measurements, illustrations, LM and SEM pictures, and the phylogenetic position of M. composticola are given.

Description of Trichodorus iranicus sp. n. (Diphtherophorina, Trichodoridae) from Iran.

Trichodorus iranicus sp. n. is described and illustrated based on morphological and molecular characters and morphometric data. It belongs to the T. lusitanicus morphospecies group based on the shape of the spicules and vaginal sclerotised pieces. Males have a body length of 844-942 µm, onchiostyle length of 59 µm, three cervical papillae (CP), curved spicules, 28-30 µm in length, with narrow mid-part, sometimes provided with a few bristles, and slightly developed manubrium. Females of the new species are 727-870 µm long with secretory-excretory pore located opposite anterior end of pharyngeal bulb, vagina length 46-57% of corresponding body width, with triangular to triangular-rounded sclerotised pieces 3.5 µm long, 1-2 µm apart from each other, and vulva a transverse slit. In its morphology, the new species resembles T. andalusicus, T. asturanus, T. azorensis, T. beirensis, T. lusitanicus, T. velatus and T. viruliferus and the morphological and morphometric differences separating T. iranicus from these known species are discussed. The D2-D3 region of 28S rDNA for the new species was amplified and the 679 bp newly-obtained sequence was used in a Bayesian inference (BI) analysis which confirmed the close relationship of the new species with T. lusitanicus morphospecies group members and placed it as a sister taxon to T. andalusicus in a well-supported clade that also includes T. asturanus.

Study of mononchids from Iran, with description of Mylonchulus kermaniensis sp. n. (Nematoda: Mononchida).

During a survey of soil nematodes in Iran, three species of predatory nematodes, including a new species of the genus Mylonchulus Cobb, 1916 were recovered. Mylonchulus kermaniensis sp. n. is characterised by its body length (1.2-1.4 mm), six rows of rasp-like denticles, the sixth line consisting of four denticles, female tail slightly sigmoid, sharply bent ventrad with digitate posterior portion slightly but clearly bent dorsad, (37-49 µm long, c=27.9-38.9, c'=1.2-1.7) with a terminal opening of spinneret. Two advulval papillae present, one is pre-vulval and the other one is located posterior to vulva. Furthermore, two other mononchid species namely M. cf. hawaiiensis (Cassidy, 1931) Goodey, 1951 and Mononchus truncatus Bastian, 1865 were also recovered from soil in the province of Kerman, Iran, the former representing a new geographical record for Iran. Measurements and illustration are provided for these three species. Molecular study of 18S rDNA region of M. cf. hawaiiensis demonstrated that the Iranian population compared with the nearest populations identified as M. hawaiiensis from Japan, shows 5 to 8 nucleotide differences. In addition, phylogeny of Mylonchulus is discussed and a checklist of the species of Mononchida from Iran is provided.