Abstract
Female perineal pattern, male face view, and tail shape, tail length and face view of second-stage larvae of several populations of Meloidogyne mali were comparatively studied. The populations were collected from Misato (Nagano), Suginami (Tokyo), Aomori, Ibaraki, Tottori and Okayama. The nematodes were isolated from apple at Misato and mulberry at the other localities. Misato is located 60 km from the type locality of the species, which is Toyono (Nagano). The perineal pattern of all of the populations, except the Suginami population, was oval in outline with smooth and very fine striae. The pattern of the Suginami population was rather squarish in outline with much finer striae that were wavy in dorsal arch. Second stage larvae of all of the populations except the Suginami population had long slender tails (30-38μm) with slightly pointed terminus, while those of the Suginami population had shorter tails (24-31μm) with blunt and round tips. The male face view of the Misato population had an oval labial disc and the lateral lips were absent or obscure. The face view of the Suginami population had large, lozenge-shaped labial disc and clear lateral lips. The labial disc of second-stage larvae of the Misato population was oval and fused to the medial lips which were fused to the lateral lips in the same contour. The Suginami population had a round labial disc that was fused to the medial lips in the same contour forming a dumbellshape. Its lateral lips were never fused to the medial lips in the same contour. From these morphological differences, it was suggested that the Suginami population might be a species different from M. mali.
