Additional notes on the morphology and molecular data of the Kikuyu root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne kikuyensis (Nematoda: Meloidogynidae)

Females, males, and second-stage juveniles of Meloidogyne kikuyensis were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The morphology of M. kikuyensis was typical for species of the genus in general, but differed in several characters, appearing to be in a more primitive state. The head morphology of males and second-stage juveniles of most species of root-knot nematode is made up of a large labial disk surrounded by the fused pairs of the sub-dorsal and sub-ventral lips, but in M. kikuyensis, the labial disk is surrounded by six distinct lips. Second-stage juveniles appear to develop similarly to that of other members of the genus. The division of the egg seems to be quite different from typical species in that two small, highly refractive cells, are set-aside early in embryogenesis. Elucidation of the mitochondrial nucleotide sequence for the cytochrome oxidase subunit II and the large subunit of the ribosomal RNA gene (COII-16S rRNA) and the ITS1 region implicated M. kikuyensis is in a basal position when compared to other species of the genus.