Male.  Body assuming an open "C" posture when dead, tapering gradually towards anterior end, almost hemispherical. Testis outstretched.  Spicules slightly curved.  Caudal alae small.  Tail tapering posterior to the cloacal opening, slender-conoid.  Lateral fields with four distinct incisures at mid-body and three in the posterior region.

Juveniles with twelve rows of scales with 2-3 spines in each margin.

Criconema sphagni was recovered only from the rhizosphere of Espeletia sp., at Pico El Aguila (4000 m asl), Merida State.

Remarks. The morphometrics of adult females of C. sphagni agree with those from De Grisse (1969) and Ebsary (1978). Compared with previous descriptions of males (Raski & Pinochet, 1976), the Venezuelan population differs in shorter body and spiculae lengths (235-250 um vs 400-460 um and 29-30 um vs 40-42 um, respectively) and differs from a Canadian population reported by Ebsary (1978) in tis shorter body (235-250 um vs 300-510 um) and lower a ratio (14-15 vs 17-24).
Criconema sphagni is recorded here for the first time from Venezuela. It has also been reported from the rhizosphere of Liriodendron tulipifera L. in Virginia (U.S.A.) (Adams & Lapp, 1967), moss in Denmark (Raski & Pinochet, 1976) and Olearia colensoi Hook, Chormicaelia sp. and other non-identified plants in New Zealand (Loof et al., 1997).

Table 2. Morphometrics of Criconema sphagni from Espeletia sp., Pico El Aguila, Venezueala.

	n = 20 females	n = 1 J2	n = 3 J3	n = 6 J4	n = 2 males*
L (um) a b c c' V% m % sty (um) cone (um) P ex (um) P ex (%) R R sty R oes RV Rvan Ran D max (um) D anus (um) L oes (um) L tail (um) L gon (um) T (um) Spicules (um) Gub (um)	364+25 (321-390) 11+0.6 (10-12) 2.8+0.3 (2.2-3) 24+3.6 (18-31) 1+0.1 (0.8-1.1) 89+0.8 (88-90) 89+1.7 (88-91) 100+4.6 (96-110) 88+2.8 (85-94) 112+3.1 (108-116) 30+1 (29-32) 87-99 25-31 31-37 12-13 5-6 6-7 33+1.7 (31-37) 16+1.4 (14-18) 134+2 (130-137) 16+1.8 (12-18) - - - -	150 7.5 2.8 - - - 87 45 39 - - - - - - - - 20 - 54 - 10 - - -	196+7.5 (187-200) 8.1+0.6 (7.4-8.6) 3 - - - 86+2.3 (84-88) 55+1.8 (53-57) 47 - - - - - - - - 24+1.1 (23-25) - 65+3.9 (60-67) - 14 - - -	245+23 (219-279) 8+0.8 (7.7-9) 3+2.9 (2.4-3.3) - - - 87+1.4 (85-89) 69+2.3 (67-73) 59+2 (58-63) - - - - - - - - 31+3.9 (27-36) - 94+7.9 (84-102) - 58+12 (48-73) - - -	235, 250 14, 15 - 12 1.4, 1.5 - - - - 97, 98 39, 41 - - - - - - 17, 18 14 111, 112 20, 21 - 24, 32 29, 30 5

(Description- Crozzoli and Lamberti, 2002)

MEASUREMENTS: 2 females (one flattened): L = 0.31, 0.43 mm; a = 11; b = 2.9; c = 15, 16; c' = 1.4; V = 85, 87; PV/VB= 1.8; stylet = 112, 118 um; St%L = 27, 36; Rex = 31, 32; RV = 14, 16; R Van = 5, 7; Ran = 8; R = 94, 99.
LOCALITIES: Chatham Island: recently burnt-over site on peat with Sphagnum, mosses, ferns, Carex sp., Senecio seedling, altitude 265 m, NZMS 240 Chatham Islands 994919, February 1973 [11T]; rush, Senecio huntii, Gleichenia sp., with Sphagnum groundcover and some Blechnum sp. and Dracophyllum scrub on peat, altitude 160 m, NZMS 240 Chatham Islands 040978, February 1973 [14T].

(Description- Loof, Wouts & Yeates, 1997)

DNA Sequences Obtained: