Oleaxonchium, Peña-Santiago & García-Ruiz & Ruiz-Cuenca & Abolafia, 2024

Peña-Santiago, Reyes, García-Ruiz, Miriam, Ruiz-Cuenca, Alba N. & Abolafia, Joaquín, 2024, Oleaxonchium olearum gen. et sp. nov. (Nematoda, Dorylaimida) associated with an olive grove in the southern Iberian Peninsula, and new insights into the evolutionary relationships within Belondiridae, Zoosystematics and Evolution 100 (3), pp. 1029-1039 : 1029-1039

Oleaxonchium gen. nov.

Diagnosis.

Belondiridae , Belondirinae . Medium-sized nematodes, 2.44–2.87 mm long. Cuticle dorylaimid, thick, two-layered. Body pores button-like. Lip region narrower than the adjoining body, rectangular in lateral view, with distinctly sclerotized margins, totally fused lips, and simple, pore-like cephalic papillae. Amphid cup-like, with large aperture. Cheilostom a relatively long truncate cone with thickened walls at its anterior (perioral) part. Odontostyle small, robust, slightly fusiform, with short aperture, up to one-third of its length. Guiding ring simple, refractive. Odontophore linear, lacking any differentiation. Pharynx entirely muscular, with both regions separated by a short, isthmus-like narrowing; basal expansion occupying ca two-thirds of the total neck length, surrounded by a conspicuous muscular sheath. Female genital system mono-opistho-ovarian, didelphic, without pars refringens vaginae, well-developed pars distalis vaginae, and transverse vulva. Caudal region short and rounded. Male unknown.

Type and only species.

Oleaxonchium olearum sp. nov.

Etymology.

The genus name is derived from Olea europaea L. , the scientific name of olive, as the type species was found associated with this typical Mediterranean fruit tree, and Axonchium , a very close taxon.