Description of Seinura italiensis n. sp. (Tylenchomorpha: Aphelenchoididae) found in the medium soil imported from Italy

Seinura italiensis n. sp. isolated from the medium soil imported from Italy is described and illustrated using morphological and molecular data. The new species is characterized by having short body (477 (407-565) µm and 522 (469-590) µm for males and females, respectively), three lateral lines, stylet lacking swellings at the base, and excretory pore at the base or slightly anterior to base of metacorpus; females have 58.8 (51.1-69.3) µm long post-uterine sac (PUS), elongate conical tail with its anterior half conoid, dorsally convex, and ventrally slightly concave and the posterior half elongated, narrower, with finely rounded to pointed tip and males having seven caudal papillae and 14.1 (12.6-15.0) µm long spicules. Morphologically, the new species is similar to S. caverna, S. chertkovi, S. christiei, S. hyrcania, S. longicaudata, S. persica, S. steineri, and S. tenuicaudata. The differences of the new species with aforementioned species are discussed. In molecular phylogenetic analyses using near full-length small and large subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU and LSU rDNA D2-D3 expansion segments) sequences, the new species fell into a clade including three previously described/sequenced species of the genus in both SSU and LSU Bayesian phylogenetic trees.