Integrative taxonomy of the aggressive pest Meloidogyne enterolobii and molecular phylogeny of Meloidogyne spp. based on five gene regions

The root-knot nematode Meloidogyne enterolobii is amongst the most aggressive plant-parasitic nematodes, causing significant yield loss to a wide range of host plants. Damage caused by this group are comparable to the other most common and destructive root-knot nematodes, including M. incognita , M. arenaria , M. javanica , and M. hapla . Therefore, this pest is subject to quarantine in many countries over the world and more attention needs to be paid to improve management. It is notable that many Meloidogyne species were identified based on a single approach (either morphological or molecular characterisation), leading to a number of incorrectly reported species and mislabelled sequences on GenBank. To avoid this, the use of molecular barcodes for identifying Meloidogyne species is recommended, but their utilisation should be validated by multiple approaches in any study. Our study provided detailed morphological characterisation of M. enterolobii that can be used to supplement the diagnosis of M. enterolobii . Importantly, reliable molecular barcodes, that are unequivocally linked to detailed morphological and morphometric data, were provided in our study, contributing to quarantine service tools that can be used to limit the dispersal of this damaging pest. In addition, molecular phylogenetic trees based on COI , COII/ 16S rRNA, Nad5 mtDNA, ITS, and D2-D3 of 28S rRNA regions were constructed for better understanding the relationship between root-knot nematodes.