Open AccessBURSAPHELENCHUS SPECIES (NEMATODA: APHELENCHIDA) ASSOCIATED WITH AN OLIVE TREE IN CENTRAL ITALY
Author(s) -
Giulia Torrini,
Agostino Strangi,
Stefania Simoncini,
Ilaria Cutino,
Giuseppe Mazza,
Fabrizio Pennacchio,
Francesco Binazzi,
Leonardo Marianelli,
Pio Federico Roversi,
E. Gargani
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
redia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 2035-6382
pISSN - 0370-4327
DOI - 10.19263/redia-103.20.19
Subject(s) - olive trees , biology , helicotylenchus , xiphinema , pratylenchus , mediterranean basin , mediterranean climate , bark (sound) , botany , nematology , ecology , nematode
Olive cultivation is of great economic, ecological, and cultural interest in Italy, as well as in the rest of the Mediterranean basin. Among the pests of olive trees, several groups of insects, mites, and nematodes have been reported. Phytoparasitic nematodes especially of the genera Meloidogyne, Pratylenchus, Helicotylenchus, Xiphinema, Tylenchulus, Rotylenchulus, and Heterodera have usually been extracted from roots and soil around trees. On the other hand, no information is available concerning nematodes directly associated with the wood. At the end of September 2018, in a high-density cultivated olive grove in Tuscany (central Italy), several olive trees with decline symptoms were observed. Three Bursaphelenchus species, B. fungivorus, B. minutus, and B. sexdentati were extracted from the wood of one dead tree. Even though these species had already been reported in Italy, these findings were the first ones recorded in olive wood. Moreover, another undescribed Bursaphelenchusspecies was found associated with the bark beetle Hylesinus fraxini collected from olive trunks and branches. Further research is needed to investigate the role of insects and Bursaphelenchus spp. in the decline processes of olive trees.