Phasmarhabditis villasmundi sp. n. infecting land gastropods in the Nature Reserve ‘Speleological Complex Villasmundo – S. Alfio’ in Syracuse Province, Sicily


A new nematode species, Phasmarhabditis villasmundi sp. n., was isolated from land gastropods in the Villasmundo-S. Alfio Nature Reserve in Syracuse Province, Sicily. Phasmarhabditis villasmundi sp. n. is characterised by the presence of males and females in the population and is recognised mainly by a conical female tail with prominent phasmids at its mid-length, spicules ca 82 μm long with a hole at the distal tip, infective juveniles with an average length of 773 μm and the distinct molecular characteristics of the new species. It is the second member of the genus described from Italy apart from P. apuliae Nermut’ et al., 2016 and is morphologically closest to this species. However, phylogenetic analyses based on ITS and D2-D3 LSU placed P. villasmundi sp. n. close to European P. neopapillosa and P. hermaphrodita, while P. apuliae appeared to be related to P. bohemica and the New World’s P. californica.