Description of Meloidoderita salina sp. n. (Nematoda, Sphaeronematidae) from a micro-tidal salt marsh at Mont-Saint-Michel Bay in France

Meloidoderita salina sp. n. is described and illustrated from the halophytic plant Atriplex portulacoides L. (sea purslane) growing in a micro-tidal salt marsh in the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay in France. This new species is the first member of Meloidoderita Poghossian, 1966 collected from a saline environment, and is characterized by the following features: sedentary mature females having a small swollen body with a clear posterior protuberance; slightly dorsally curved stylet, 19.9 mu m long, with posteriorly sloping knobs; neck region irregular in shape and twisted; well developed secretory-excretory (S-E) pore, with markedly sclerotized S-E duct running posteriorly; prominent uterus bordered by a thick hyaline wall and filled with eggs. The adult female transforms into a cystoid. Eggs are deposited in both egg-mass and cystoid. Cystoids of Meloidoderita salina sp. n. display a unique sub-cuticular hexagonal beaded pattern. Male without stylet, pharyngeal region degenerated, S-E duct prominent, deirids small, developed testis 97.5 mu m long, spicules 18.4 mu m long, cloacal opening ventrally protruded, small phasmids posterior to cloaca opening and situated at 5.9 (3.2-7.7) mu m from tail end, and conical tail ending in a rounded terminus marked with one (rarely two) ventrally positioned mucro. Additionally, some young males of the new species were observed enveloped in the last J2 cuticle. Second-stage juvenile body 470 mu m long, with a 16.4 mu m long stylet, prominent rounded knobs set off from the shaft, hemizonid anterior and adjacent to S-E pore, small deirids located just above S-E pore level, genital primordium located at 68-77% of body length, phasmids small and located at about 19 mu m from tail tip, and tail 38.7 mu m long, tapering to finely pointed terminus with a finger-like projection. Phylogenetic analyses based on the nearly full length small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences of Meloidoderita salina sp. n. revealed a close relationship of the new species with Sphaeronema alni Turkina & Chizhov, 1986 and placed these two species sister to the rest of Criconematina

SEM Observations on the Marine Nematode Dracognomus simplex (Gerlach, 1954) Allen and Noffsinger, 1978 (Draconematidae: Prochaetosomatinae)

The free-living marine nematode Dracognomus simplex (Gerlach, 1954) Allen &Noffsinger, 1978 was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The morphology of males and females is described and illustrated in detail. In addition to the typical and modified adhesion tubes, a new type of posterior adhesion tube was discovered. A neotype is proposed for Dracognomus simplex, and D. simplex sensu Decraemer &Gourbault, 1986 is renamed as Dracognomus americanum n. sp. Additionally, a key toward the Dracognomus species is proposed

Description of Pratylenchus dunensis sp. n. (Nematoda: Pratylenchidae), a root-lesion nematode associated with the dune grass Ammophila arenaria (L.) Link

A root-lesion nematode, Pratylenchus dunensis sp. n., is described and illustrated from Ammophila arenaria (L.) Link, a grass occurring abundantly in coastal dunes of Atlantic Europe. The new species is characteriscd by medium sized (454-579 mu m) slender, vermiform, females and males having two lip annuli (sometimes three to fours incomplete incisures only visible with scanning electron microscopy), medium to robust stylet (ca 16 mu m) with robust stylet knobs slightly set off, long pharyngeal glands (ca 42 mu m), lateral field with four parallel, non-equidistant, lines, the middle ridge being narrower than the outer ones, lateral field with partial areolation and lines converging posterior to the phasmid which is located between the two inner lines of the lateral field in the posterior half of the tail, round spermatheca filled with round sperm, Vulva at 78% of total body length and with protruding vulval lips, posterior uterine sac relatively short (ca 19 mu m), cylindrical tail (ca 33 mu m) narrowing in the posterior third with smooth tail tip and with conspicuous hyaline part (ca 2 mu m). Males occur abundantly and present similar characteristics except for smaller dimensions for all morphological characters, but the head region is more truncated in outline than the female, spicule length is ca 15 mu m and testis length is ca 195 mu m. Nucleotide sequences of the rDNA expansion region D2D3 differed from the morphologically similar species P. penetrans and P brzeskii that also occur in coastal dunes. These differences are supported by PCR-RFLP of the ITS-rDNA. Pratylenchus dunensis sp. n. was also found parasitising roots of Elymus farctus Viv

Bioaugmentation of uasb reactors with immobilized sulfurospirillum barnesii for simultaneous selenate and nitrate removal

Whole-cell immobilization of selenate-respiring Sulfurospirillum barnesii in polyacrylamide gels was investigated to allow the treatment of selenate contaminated (790 A mu g Se x L(-1)) synthetic wastewater with a high molar excess of nitrate (1,500 times) and sulfate (200 times). Gel-immobilized S. barnesii cells were used to inoculate a mesophilic (30A degrees C) bioreactor fed with lactate as electron donor at an organic loading rate of 5 g chemical oxygen demand (COD) x L(-1) day(-1). Selenate was reduced efficiently (> 97%) in the nitrate and sulfate fed bioreactor, and a minimal effluent concentration of 39 A mu g Se x L(-1) was obtained. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) analysis revealed spherical bioprecipitates of a parts per thousand currency sign2 A mu m diameter mostly on the gel surface, consisting of selenium with a minor contribution of sulfur. To validate the bioaugmentation success under microbial competition, gel cubes with immobilized S. barnesii cells were added to an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) reactor, resulting in earlier selenate (24 hydraulic retention times (HRTs)) and sulfate (44 HRTs) removal and higher nitrate/nitrite removal efficiencies compared to a non-bioaugmented control reactor. S. barnesii was efficiently immobilized inside the UASB bioreactors as the selenate-reducing activity was maintained during long-term operation (58 days), and molecular analysis showed that S. barnesii was present in both the sludge bed and the effluent. This demonstrates that gel immobilization of specialized bacterial strains can supersede wash-out and out-competition of newly introduced strains in continuous bioaugmented systems. Eventually, proliferation of a selenium-respiring specialist occurred in the non-bioaugmented control reactor, resulting in simultaneous nitrate and selenate removal during a later phase of operation