FNZ 55 - Criconematina (Nematoda: Tylenchida) - Materials and methods
Wouts, WM 2006. Criconematina (Nematoda: Tylenchida). Fauna of New Zealand 55, 232 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
55.
).
Published 24 Mar 2006
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/088E84BD-3DE3-4EA2-B6D9-C45BBC0A12F1
Materials and methods
Collecting of the material was done throughout the year, with summer collecting restricted to low lying humid areas and riverbeds. Collections from the subantarctic islands were obtained through cooperation with participants of scientific expeditions there. To avoid the effect of summer drying on nematodes close to the soil surface, the top 3–10 cm of soil were generally removed before digging up a 0.5–1 kg soil sample with a spade. Specimens were extracted from soil and litter by decantation and sieving, and sugar-flotation and centrifugation. Extracted material was fixed in hot 4% formalin and specimens were processed to glycerol through a slow glycerol method and mounted in dehydrated glycerol between cover glasses held in aluminium slide holders as described by Wouts & Sher (1971). Light microscope observations and measurements were made on specimens mounted in glycerol. For observation in a Philips 505 SEM, specimens fixed in 4% formalin were cleansed ultrasonically, then passed through a graded ethanol series (50–70–90–100%), critical point dried, mounted on a stub, and coated with gold in an Emscope SP2000 sputter cryo unit.
In the descriptions and the diagnoses it is the female of the species that is referred to, unless a different stage is clearly indicated. For measuring the best specimens were selected. When males and juveniles of good quality were available they were measured too. When scales were present the body width was measured excluding scales, and the de Man ‘a’ ratio was calculated using this width. Scales were measured along their length, not by the distance they stand out from the body. The dimensions in the Tables are given in µm as an average, plus or minus the variability as standard error, with the range in parentheses, except for the total length, which is given in millimeters.
In the Criconematina the convention for the abbreviations of the various characters is as follows:
L = total body length in mm
a = body length/greatest body width
b = body length/distance from anterior end to junction of oesophagus and intestine
c = body length/tail length
c’ = tail length/anal body width
V = distance of vulva from anterior end x100/body length
PV/VB = length of postvulval part of body/body width at vulva
PV = length of postvulval part of body in µm
St%L = stylet length x100/body length
Rex = number of the annule, counted from anterior end, on which the secretory–excretory pore lies
RV = number of the annule, counted from tail end, on which the vulva lies
Ran = number of the annule, counted from tail end, on which the anus lies
R = total number of body annules
Length of oesophagus = distance from anterior to the oesophageal intestinal junction
Length of stylet shaft = length of the lower part of the stylet, including the stylet base.