241 RESEARCH/INVESTIGACIÓN FIRST REPORT OF DITYLENCHUS GALLAEFORMANS (TYLENCHIDA: ANGUINIDAE) INDUCING GALLS ON CLIDEMIA FENDLERI (MELASTOMATACEAE) FROM VENEZUELA Patricia Morales-Montero 1 , Saúl Flores 2 , Sergei A. Subbotin 3,4 and Ernesto San-Blas 1, * 1 Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientíicas, Centro de Estudios Botánicos y Agroforestales, Laboratorio de Protección Vegetal, Av. 8 Santa Rita entre calles 79 y 80, Maracaibo, edo. Zulia, Venezuela, CP 4001; 2 Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientíicas, Centro de Ecología, Laboratorio de Ecología de Suelos, Km 11, Carretera Panamericana, Altos de Pipe, edo. Miranda, Venezuela, CP 1010A; 3 Plant Pest Diagnostics Center, California Department of Food and Agriculture, 3294 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA 95832-1448, USA; 4 Center of Parasitology of A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii Prospect 33, Moscow, 117071, Russia; *Corresponding author: esanblas@yahoo.com; esanblas@ivic.gob.ve ABSTRACT Morales-Montero, P., S. Flores, S. A. Subbotin and E. San-Blas. 2013. First report of Ditylenchus gallaeformans (Tylenchida: Anguinidae) inducing galls on Clidemia fendleri (Melastomataceae) from Venezuela. Nematropica 43:241- 246. Ditylenchus gallaeformans was found in a tropical rainforest in the central part of Cordillera de la Costa from Venezuela as a parasite of Clidemia fendleri (Melastomataceae) causing deformations and galls on inlorescences and abaxial surface of the leaves. Morphological, morphometrical and molecular characterization of this population is provided. The PCR-D2-D3-28S-RFLP diagnostic proile for D. gallaeformans generated by six restriction enzymes is presented. Clidemia fendleri being an endemic plant of Venezuela is a new host of D. gallaeformans. This inding is a irst record of this nematode in Venezuela. Key words: nematode, parasite-host interaction, RFLP, rainforest RESUMEN Morales-Montero, P., S. Flores, S. A. Subbotin and E. San-Blas. 2013. Primer reporte de Ditylenchus gallaeformans (Tylenchida: Anguinidae) induciendo agallas en Clidemia fendleri (Melastomataceae) en Venezuela. Nematropica 43:241-246. Ditylenchus gallaeformans (Anguinoidea: Anguinidae) fue encontrado en un bosque tropical lluvioso de la parte central de la Cordillera de la Costa de Venezuela, parasitando Clidemia fendleri (Melastomataceae) e induciendo agallas en inlorescencias y en la cara abaxial de las hojas. La caracterización morfológica, morfométrica y molecular es proporcionada. El peril diagnóstico PCR-D2-D3-28S-RFLP para D. gallaeformans, generado por el uso de seis enzimas de restricción, también se presenta. C. fendleri es una planta endémica de Venezuela, por lo tanto, se la considera como un nuevo hospedador para D. gallaeformans. Por otro lado, este hallazgo representa el primer reporte de este nematodo para Venezuela. Palabras clave: nematodo, interacción parasito-hospedador, RFLP, bosque lluvioso. INTRODUCTION The genus Ditylenchus Filipjev, 1936 (Tylenchida, Anguinoidea, Anguinidae) contains nearly 60 species, some of them considered as agricultural important plant parasites (Siddiqi, 2000). Although several Ditylenchus species are reported from Central and South America, only one species of this genus, D. dipsaci parasitizing onion and garlic, has been found in Venezuela (Crozzoli, 2002). In 2009, a neotropical nematode Ditylenchus gallaeformans (Oliveira et al., 2013). attacking several species of invasive melastomatacean weeds was found in Brazil and Costa Rica (Santin et al., 2009) and later the description of this species was published by Oliveira et al. (2013). The nematode induces formation of gall-like structures on the foliage and inlorescences. The host range includes nine Melastomataceae species (Miconia ibaguensis, M. albicans, M. calvescens, M. coralline, M. latecrenata, M. mendoncae, Clidemia capitellata, C. hirta, and Leandra lacunosa). During our nematological survey, a new population of D. gallaeformans was isolated from a Venezuelan tropical rainforest. This nematode parasitizes Clidemia fendleri Cogn. plants and induces moderate galls on