Description of a new species of Aspidonema (Sachs, 1949) Andrássy, 1958 (Nematoda: Bunonematidae) associated with mint leaf beetle Chrysolina herbacea (Duftschmid, 1825) from India

This paper provides a detailed description of a new species of genus Aspidonema isolated from mint leaf beetles (Chrysolina herbacea), and is the first report of a bunonematid nematode from beetles in India. Aspidonema kashmirensis sp. nov. is characterised by females having small, asymmetrical body (L = 224–337µm, a = 13.1–20.3, b = 3.2–4.2, c = 7.2–10.7, c′ = 4.0–5.7, V = 53.3–60.0), with the right side body cuticle ornamented with shields, warts and networks while the left side is provided with five longitudinal ridges. The shields are transversely-ovoid, having strongly sclerotized borders and a pair of elliptical slits for the underlying warts. Fine pores observed under SEM are present on the surface of the shields. Males have a bifid tail; long, thin, free spicules, distally hooked gubernaculum; asymmetrical, leptoderan bursa and eight pairs of genital papillae.

First Record of Mint Leaf Beetle, Chrysolina herbacea (Duftschmid, 1825), (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in Iraq

The insect is diagnosed and named by the National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI), USA as the Mint leaf Beetle Chrysolina herbacea alnadawi (Duftschmid, 1825), (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). The diagnosis was performed depending on the DNA analysis by 73% similarity with Chrysolina herbacea (Duftschmid, 1825) sequence, In the present study. It is recorded as a new insect pest on mint plant Mentha puleguim (L,1753) (Lamiaceae). DNA analysis confirmend that it is recorded for the first time in Iraq and the Arab world as well as the Middle East. Those insects were observed initially during August 2017 in residential gardens of Al-Bonooq district in Baghdad / Iraq.