Bonsai "Tiger bark" Parasitized by the Root-Knot Nematode and the Spiral Nematode , a New Plant Host Record for Both Species.

In December 2017, a "Tiger bark" bonsai tree was acquired in a shopping center in Coimbra, Portugal, without symptoms in the leaves, but showing small atypical galls of infection caused by root-knot nematodes (RKN), spp. The soil nematode community was assessed and four Tylenchida genera were detected: (94.02%), s.l. (4.35%), s.l. (1.09%) and (0.54%). The RKN was identified through analysis of esterase isoenzyme phenotype (J3), PCR-RFLP of mitochondrial DNA region between COII and 16S rRNA genes and SCAR-PCR. The species was identified on the basis of female morphology that showed the body being spirally curved, with up to two turns after relation with gentle heat, a key feature of , and molecular characterization, using the D2D3 expansion region of the 28S rDNA, which revealed a similarity of 99.99% with available sequences of the common spiral nematode . To our knowledge, and are reported for the first time as parasitizing . Our findings reveal that more inspections are required to detect these and other plant-parasitic nematodes, mainly with quarantine status, to prevent their spread if found.