NOTES ON TAXONOMY AND BIOLOGY: Female M. brevicauda have an oval cuticular perineal pattern with high squared dorsal and ventral arches without prominent lateral lines. This root-knot nematode has sedentary endoparasitic habits. Second-stage juveniles (J2) penetrate host roots where they establish a specialized feeding site (giant cells) in the stele. As J2 develop, they cause root swellings and become swollen females. Females rupture root cortex and some time protrude with the egg masses from the root surface. J2 emerge from the egg masses and migrate in the soil (Loos, 1953).

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: This root-knot nematode is a tropical species reported in India and Sri Lanka (Campos et al., 1990; Loos, 1953).

HOSTS: The only know host of this nematode is tea (Camellia sinensis).

CROP LOSSES:  Tree decline caused by the infection of this pest is serious in Sri Lanka and India (Campos et al., 1990). No quantification of nematode damage has been reported.

MEANS OF MOVEMENT AND DISPERSAL:  Through root material, soil debris and by infected bare root propagative plant material.

RATING: (VL) Taking into consideration the distribution of this nematode and that the only known host is tea, the risk posed by this root-knot nematode to the United States is very low.

REFERENCES:
    Campos, V. P., P. Sivapalan, and N. C. Gnanapragasam 1990. Nematode parasites of coffee, cocoa and tea. Pp. 387-430 in M. Luc, R. A. Sikora, and J. Bridge eds. Plant parasitic nematodes in tropical and subtropical agriculture. Wallingford, UK: CAB International.
    Loos, C. A. 1953. Meloidogyne brevicauda, n. sp. a cause of root-knot of mature tea in Ceylon. Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington 20:83-91.