Loffienema, Shah & Allie & Vaid & Handoo, 2018

Shah, Li. A., Allie, Kaisar Ahmad, Vaid, Shavish & Handoo, Zafar A., 2018, Description of Loffienema dhanoriensis gen. n., sp. n. (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) from Jammu and Kashmir State, India, Zootaxa 4402 (1), pp. 189-194 : 190-192

Loffienema gen. n.

Diagnosis: Body medium-sized, less than 1 mm in length. Cuticle finely transversely annulated and longitudinally striated. Lips well-developed, separate, labial papillae small, not well differentiated. Amphidial apertures postglacial. Stoma long, tubular, evenly cuticularized. Cheilostom simple not cuticularized, gymnostom with parallel walls. Stegostom isoglottoid, weakly developed, with a pair of setose denticles on each plate. Pharyngeal collar present, covering about 52% of stoma. Pharyngeal corpus muscular, swollen to form median bulb. Female reproductive system amphidelphic, vulva pre-median. Spicules slender, separate, almost straight. Gubernaculum spathulate, proximally broad and with blunt tip distally. Bursa reduced. Caudal papillae eight pairs. Female tail filiform.

Relationships: The new genus resembles Stegorhabditis in having postlabial amphidial apertures, weakly developed stegostom, amphidelphic reproductive system, and in the shape of spicules. These two genera can be distinguished by the shape of the labial region, cheilostom, shape of gubernaculum, presence of bursa, number of caudal papillae and male tail: labial region offset in Loffienema vs not well differentiated, cheilostom simple vs cuticularised, gubernaculum spathulate vs wedge shaped, bursa present vs absent, eight pairs of caudal papillae vs six pairs, and short conoid male tail vs filiform in Stegorhabditis.

The new genus also resembles Rhabditella in having slightly offset labial region, simple cheilostom, free spicules, rudimentary bursa and amphidelphic reproductive system. However, it can be differentiated from the latter genus by the position of amphids, glottoid apparatus, shape of spicules and gubernaculum, and number of bursal papillae: amphids postlabial vs in labial region, reduced vs well developed glottoid apparatus, spicules without dorsal arm vs with dorsal arm, gubernaculum spoon shaped vs simple, and eight pairs of bursal papillae vs nine.

Type and only species: Loffienema dhanoriensis gen. n., sp. n.