Zeldia punctata (Thorne, 1925) Thorne, 1937

Mehdizadeh, Sara & Shokoohi, Ebrahim, 2013, The genera Nothacrobeles Allen & Noffsinger, 1971 and Zeldia Thorne, 1937 (Nematoda: Rhabditida: Cephalobidae) from southern Iran, with description of N. abolafiai sp. n., Zootaxa 3637 (3), pp. 325-340 : 332

Zeldia punctata (Thorne, 1925) Thorne, 1937

Measurements. See Table 2 .

Female: Lateral field with three incisures. Lip region with six lips amalgamated in pairs; labial probolae bifurcate, 4–5 μm long; primary axils U-shaped, secondary axils V-shaped. Pharyngeal corpus cylindrical (8.1–9.3 times isthmus length). Excretory pore at level of isthmus. Postuterine sac 0.4 times the corresponding body diameter in length. Female tail conical, with concave ventral side.

Male: Not found.

Distribution: The material examined was collected in Shahdad (N: 30º25'10.9"; E: 057º41'38.1"; date of sampling: 2012), province of Kerman, in association with Citrus sinensis .

Remarks. The Iranian population of Z. punctata is similar to the specimens studied from Botswana by De Bruin and Heyns (1993); however, it differs from them in having a shorter tail (c' = 1.8–2.1 vs c' = 3.2–3.4). In comparison to the material examined from India by Tahseen et al. (1999), ours differs by having a shorter female body (0.61–0.73 vs 0.79–0.91 mm), and tail (38–47 µm vs 48–63 µm). Tabassum and Shahina (2002) also studied this species from Pakistan, reporting morphology and morphometrics similar to these Iranian specimens. Abolafia and Peña-Santiago (2003) studied this species from Spain with greater body length (vs 0.62–0.81 mm), and longer pharynx (vs 202–216 µm) and spermatheca (12–14 vs 37 µm). In comparison to the material examined from Hungary by Andrássy (2005), our specimens have shorter body length (vs 0.64–0.94 mm) and shorter pharynx (172–192 µm vs 210–230 µm).