Phylogenetic confirmation of the genus Robbea (Nematoda: Desmodoridae, Stilbonematinae) with the description of three new species.

ABSTRACT: The Stilbonematinae are a monophyletic group of marine nematodes that are characterized by a coat of thiotrophic bacterial symbionts. Among the ten known genera of the Stilbonematinae, the genus Robbea Gerlach 1956 had a problematic taxonomic history of synonymizations and indications of polyphyletic origin. Here we describe three new species of the genus, R. hypermnestra sp. nov., R. ruetzleri sp. nov. and R. agricola sp. nov., using conventional light microscopy, interference contrast microscopy and SEM. We provide 18S rRNA gene sequences of all three species, together with new sequences for the genera Catanema and Leptonemella. Both our morphological analyses as well as our phylogenetic reconstructions corroborate the genus Robbea. In our

SUBMITTER: Ott JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5002938 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature