Pratylenchus cruciferus
Bajaj, Harish K. and Bhatti, D. S., 1984
Measurements:  Holotype (female):  L = 758 um; a = 34; b = 8.3; b’ = 5.8; c = 24; V = 78; spear = 16 um; c’ = 2.5.  Paratypes (20 females):  See Table 1:
P. cruciferus  20 female paratypes
Characters Mean
Range
SD
CV
Length (um) 730 648-793 40.9 5.6
Body width (um) 22 18-27 2.1 9.6
A 33 26-40 3.2 10.0
B 8.2 7.3-9.2 0.6 6.8
B' 5.8 5.0-7.0 0.5 8.9
C 22 19-28 2.2 10.0
V 77 76-81 1.2 1.6
Spear (um) 15.6 15.6
- - -
- - -
Post uterine sac (um) 23 15-30 3.8 16.4
Tail (um) 31 27-35 2.0 6.4
Tail annules
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -

Description:  Female:  Body long and cylindrical becoming ‘c’ shaped upon fixation.  Lateral field occupying one-quarter or one-third of mid body width with four incisures, central core of lateral field with oblique striations.  Head region flat, continuous with body, with three annules.  Cephalic framework extending laterally up to 2-3 body annules.  Spear 15-16 um long, anterior surfaces of spear knobs concave.  Corpus narrower at its junction with rounded to oval median bulb.  Esophageal gland lobe 31-51 um long, overlapping intestine for about two corresponding body widths.  Opening of dorsal esophageal gland 3-4 um from spear base.  Nerve ring at mid isthmus.  Excretory pore 90-104 um from anterior end or 3-19 um posterior to esophago-intestinal valve.  Hemizonid 2-8 annules anterior to excretory pore.  Spermatheca and columella indistinct.  Vulva a transverse slit located at 76 to 81 per cent.  Post vulval uterine sac 18-30 um or 0.7-1.4 vulval body widths long.  Anal body diameter 10-14 um.  Tail subcylindrical to cylindrical with smoothly rounded to truncated terminus, 2.1-3.0 anal body widths long.  Phasmids near middle of tail.
 Male:  Not found.
 Type host and locality:  Soil around the roots of mustard, Brassica compestris L. from village Patanwas of Bhiwani district.
 Type specimens:  Holotype mounted on slide No. 1 Pratylenchus cruciferus n. sp.; paratypes on slides Nos. 2-6.  Holotype and 18 paratypes deposited with Department of Nematology, H.A.U., Hissar, India.  Rest of the paratypes with National Nematode Collection, Division of Nematology, I.A.R.I., New Dehli, India.
 Differential Diagnosis:  Pratylenchus cruciferus n. sp. is similar to P. thornei Sher & Allen, 1953 from which it differs in the shape of lip region, total body length, presence of oblique lines in the central zone of lateral fields, and position of hemizonid.  Lip region high; L = 470-580 um; central zone of lateral fields without oblique lines; hemizonid adjacent to excretory pore in P. thornei.