Geographic range extension of hop cyst nematode, Heterodera humuli , from Tasmania to the Australian mainland

Hop cyst nematode, Heterodera humuli Filipjev, 1934 was found in soil samples collected from hop farms in Bushy Park, Tasmania and in Merriang, Victoria, Australia. Morphological and molecular characteristics were consistent with those described for this species in other parts of the world. Novel gene sequences of ITS rRNA, 28S rRNA and CO1 mtDNA generated from cysts were compared against sequences of H. humuli available on the NCBI GenBank database, demonstrating little to no genetic variation between Australian hop cyst nematode populations and those from other regions. This report provides the first molecular sequence data for H. humuli from Australia and reports a significant range extension of this cyst nematode from Tasmania to the Australian mainland.