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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #348471
Title: List of type specimens deposited since 1998 in the United States Department of Agriculture Nematode Collection, Beltsville, Maryland

Author
item Handoo, Zafar
item MIHAIL, KANTOR - Orise Fellow
item Carta, Lynn
item Chitwood, David

Submitted to: Journal of Nematology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/2/2018
Publication Date: 5/5/2018
Citation: Handoo, Z.A., Mihail, K.R., Carta, L.K., Chitwood, D.J. 2018. List of type specimens deposited since 1998 in the United States Department of Agriculture Nematode Collection, Beltsville, Maryland. Journal of Nematology. 50(1):51-68. https://doi.org/10.21307/jofnem-2018-012.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/jofnem-2018-012

Interpretive Summary: Plant-parasitic nematodes are microscopic worms that attack plant roots and cause an estimated ten billion dollars of crop loss each year in the United States and 100 billion dollars globally. One problem with reducing these crop losses is that nematode species are notoriously difficult to identify. Because future nematode identifications can be accurately obtained only when known reference specimens are available, ARS scientists curate the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nematode Collection, which houses millions of nematodes in nearly 50,000 glass slides or vials. This report contains a list of nearly 500 nematode species added to the USDANC in the past twenty years. This addition is significant because it provides knowledge of the numbers and kinds of nematodes which actually exist and for which specimens can be obtained from the USDANC. Consequently, this report will be used by scientists, action agencies and extension agents involved in nematode research and control.

Technical Abstract: The United States Department of Agriculture Nematode Collection (USDANC) is one of the largest and most valuable in existence and includes millions of specimens housed in over 39,800 permanent slides and 9,300 vials. This Collection preserves type specimens of nematodes to serve as a reference for identifications and future taxonomic revisions. Also, the Collection provides useful information on nematode hosts, occurrence and distribution. The present list includes type specimens added to the USDANC since 1998. Since that time, the collection has expanded, with 474 type species mounted and preserved on 2,564 glass slides and 180 vials. We encourage nematologists throughout the world to deposit type specimens in the USDANC for use by future generations.