© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Tzortzakakis
et al.
26
whereas,
M. hapla
was found only in one
location above 450 m altitude (28, 29). The
last report of the occurrence of
Meloidogy-
ne
spp. in Greece was in 1994 and referred
to the presence of
M. javanica
,
M. incognita
,
M. arenaria
and
M. hapla
on anemone, apri-
cot, carnation, celery, courgette, cucumber,
aubergine, kiwi, peach, potato, red pepper,
rose and tomato, without any further details
on specific host associations (36).
During the period 1996-2010, 61 isolates
of
Meloidogyne
spp. were sent to the Plant
Protection Institute of Heraklion, N.AG.
RE.F. (Crete, Greece). Fifty-two of those iso-
lates were collected from greenhouses and
fields in Crete and 9 isolates from the main-
land of Greece (Table 2). The isolates were
identified at the Scottish Crop Research In-
stitute (Dundee, UK) and/or the Instituto do
Ambiente e Vida, Departamento de Zoolo-
gia, Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal), us-
ing RAPD, IGS-PCR, SCAR-PCR and esterase
phenotypes. Some of those isolates were
also characterised by their perineal pattern
morphology at both the Instituto do Ambi-
ente e Vida (Portugal) and the Plant Protec-
tion Institute of Heraklion (Greece). The es-
terase phenotypes were used to identify 26
Meloidogyne
isolates (19 of
M. javanica
, 5 of
M. incognita
and 2 of
M. arenaria
). All
M. ja-
vanica
isolates had the typical J3 pheno-
type except one from Crete, which had the
J2 phenotype.
M. incognita
exhibited the I1
phenotype and the two
M. arenaria
isolates,
collected from balm (
Melissa officinalis
L.)
in Thrace and grapevine (
Vitis vinifera
L.) in
Crete, respectively, had the A2 phenotype,
one of the three characteristic phenotypes
of the species (5). As in the present work, no
specimens from wheat or peach were col-
lected, two
Meloidogyne
species, namely
M.
artiellia
and
M. exigua,
reported in the past
to occur in Greece (19, 9), were not found.
M.
hapla
was not found either, although during
Table 1.
Root-knot nematodes (
Meloidogyne
spp.) and their associated hosts reported in
Greece during the period 1963-1994.
Meloidogyne
species
Hosts
(in alphabetical order)
References*
M. arenaria
(syn.
M. thamesi
)
Antirrhinum, aubergine, bean, brindweed,
cabbage, carrot, corn, cucumber, garlic, ge-
ranium, grapevine, hyacinth, leek, lettuce,
melon, okra, parsley, peanut, pelargonium,
poppy, potato, snapdragon, tobacco toma-
to, trout lily, zerbera
1, 4, 9, 11-14, 16, 18, 26**
M. artiellia
Wheat
19
M. exigua
Peach
9
M. hapla
Bean, cyclamen, kiwi, leek, tomato
1, 26, 34, 35, 37
M. incognita
(syn.
M. incognita acrita
)
Almond, aubergine bean, carrot, cotton, cu-
cumber, fig, fuchsia, gardenia, grapevine,
hyacinth, okra, peach, pepper, potato, rose,
sugarbeet, tobacco, tomato, watermelon
1, 3, 4, 10, 12-18, 20-25
M. javanica
Almond, aubergine, banana, bean, beets,
black salsify, carrot, celery, cyclamen, fig, hy-
acinth, kiwi, okra, olive, peach, pepper, pis-
tachio, plum, pomegranate, sugarbeet, to-
bacco, tomato, grapevine
1, 3, 4, 9-11, 16, 17, 23, 25,
30, 34, 35, 38
*Additional information can be found in reference 36, which lists also hosts of
M. arenaria
,
M. hapla
,
M. incognita
and
M. javanica
without further details on species associations.
**Reference 26 cites data from 1964.