An integrated approach for synonymisation of Rotylenchus rhomboides with R. goodeyi (Nematoda: Hoplolaimidae) reveals high intraspecific mitogenomic variation. Rotylenchus goodeyi synonymization

Rotylenchus are nematode root ectoparasites to semi-endoparasites of a wide variety of economically important plants. They are able to penetrate deeper into root tissue to feed on cortical parenchyma, resulting in destruction of epidermal and cortical cells. Within this economically important plant-parasitic nematode genus, 105 species have been recognised and the identification of species relies mostly on females as about half of the known species are without males, and species specific traits of the available males and juveniles are limited. In this study, we aimed at generating the complete mitochondrial and ribosomal DNA sequences of R. goodeyi using illumina sequencing from a population collected from Belmonte botanical garden in Wageningen, the Netherlands. An integrative study of morphological data and molecular data generated from primer based sequencing of this species further revealed an important character variations of this species leading to synonymization of R. rhomboides with R. goodeyi. An interesting additional insight on the existence of two different variants of mitochondrial DNA within a single population of this species is also reported.