Fundamentals of Plant-Parasitic Nematode Diagnostics, Systematics, and Classification
- 1st Edition - December 1, 2025
- Latest edition
- Authors: Victor Phani, Pablo Castillo
- Language: English
Fundamentals of Plant-Parasitic Nematode Diagnostics, Systematics and Classification offers a comprehensive and authoritative resource for researchers, students, and professionals… Read more
Fundamentals of Plant-Parasitic Nematode Diagnostics, Systematics and Classification offers a comprehensive and authoritative resource for researchers, students, and professionals engaged in nematode biosystematics. The microscopic size, morphological plasticity, and broad ecological diversity have long complicated the efforts to accurately identify nematode species and reconstruct their evolutionary relationships. Unlike many other animal groups, the full extent of nematode species richness remains largely unknown, and aside from rare fossilized specimens preserved in amber, paleontological evidence is minimal.
This book confronts these challenges by integrating recent advances in molecular systematics with traditional taxonomic frameworks to build a unified reference dataset. It critically surveys the historical classification models and establishes a solid foundation for advancing research on nematode evolution and phylogeny. Rather than concentrating on isolated taxa, it presents a broad conceptual toolkit—encompassing diagnostic techniques, hierarchical organizations, and evolutionary analyses—that directly supports the management of character data and robust taxonomic publications. With its interdisciplinary scope and emphasis on both theoretical and practical diagnostics, this book is poised to become an essential reference for those working in agriculture, plant protection, and nematology.
This book confronts these challenges by integrating recent advances in molecular systematics with traditional taxonomic frameworks to build a unified reference dataset. It critically surveys the historical classification models and establishes a solid foundation for advancing research on nematode evolution and phylogeny. Rather than concentrating on isolated taxa, it presents a broad conceptual toolkit—encompassing diagnostic techniques, hierarchical organizations, and evolutionary analyses—that directly supports the management of character data and robust taxonomic publications. With its interdisciplinary scope and emphasis on both theoretical and practical diagnostics, this book is poised to become an essential reference for those working in agriculture, plant protection, and nematology.
- Presents foundational concepts in taxonomy, systematics, phylogeny, and classification
- Guides in the identification of economically important plant-parasitic nematodes
- Offers strategies for selecting appropriate tools in phylogenetic analysis and evolutionary lineage reconstruction
- Traces the historical development of nematode classification toward a coherent and natural framework
Scientists, researchers, and students in agriculture, plant science, and nematology.
1. Introduction
1.1 General body organization
1.2 The human and animal parasites
1.3 The plant parasites
1.4 Paleontological evidence of parasitism
1.5 Types of parasitism
1.6 The free-living nematodes
1.7 Abundance and survival
1.8 Nematodes in nature – agriculture continuum
1.9 Relevance of biosystematic knowledge for a nematologist
2. General principles for nematode taxonomy and systematics
2.1 Concept and definition of taxonomy
2.2 Levels of taxonomy
2.2.1 Alpha-taxonomy
2.2.2 Beta-taxonomy
2.2.3 Gamma-taxonomy
2.3 Taxonomic attempts towards classification
2.3.1 Morphotaxonomy
2.3.2 Numerical taxonomy
2.3.3 Cytotaxonomy
2.3.4 Chemotaxonomy
2.3.5 Molecular taxonomy
2.3.6 Other types of taxonomy concepts
2.4 Concept and definition of systematics
2.5 Systematics and taxonomy: which holds what?
2.6 From systematics to classification
2.7 Biological classification and hierarchy
2.8 Theories of classification
2.8.1 Essentialism
2.8.2 Nominalism
2.8.3 Empiricism
2.8.4 Cladism
2.8.5 Evolutionary classification
2.9 Brief classification of life forms
2.10 Definition of species and species concept
2.10.1 Morphological species concept
2.10.2 Non-dimensional species concept
2.10.3 Phenetic species concept
2.10.4 Biological species concept
2.10.5 Genetic species concept
2.10.6 Hennigian species concept
2.10.7 Agamospecies concept
2.10.8 Evolutionary species concept
2.10.9 Taxonomic species concept
2.10.10 Reproductive competition concept
2.10.11 Ecological species concept
2.10.12 Phylogenetic species concept
2.10.13 Autapomorphic species concept
2.10.14 Recognition species concept
2.10.15 Cladistic species concept
2.10.16 Cohesion species concept
2.10.17 Genealogical concordance concept
2.10.18 Evolutionary significant unit concept
2.10.19 Internodal species concept
2.10.20 Composite species concept
2.10.21 Genotypic cluster concept
2.10.22 Genic species concept
2.10.23 Differential fitness species concept
2.10.24 Successional species concept
2.10.25 Quasispecies concept
2.11 Speciation and extinction
2.11.1 Species complex, species flock and taxonomic inflation
2.12 Below-species ranks
2.13 Concept of genus
2.14 System of nomenclature
3. Character and character types
3.1 Definition of character
3.1.1 Character state
3.1.2 Character weighing
3.1.3 Character complexity
3.1.4 Character polarity
3.2 Types of character
3.2.1 General characters
3.2.2 Phenetic characters
3.2.3 Phylogenetic characters
3.2.4 Cladistic characters
3.3 Character data and selection of characters
4. Identification of nematodes
4.1 Approaches of identification
4.2 Taxonomic key
4.2.1 Types of taxonomic key
4.2.1.1 Single-access keys
4.2.1.2 Multi-access keys
4.2.1.3 Interactive keys
4.2.2 Use, construction, merits and demerits of taxonomic keys
4.3 Tools and techniques of identification
4.3.1 Morphological tools
4.3.2 Biochemical tools
4.3.3 Molecular tools
4.4 Identification of common plant-parasitic nematode genera
5. Note on molecular phylogeny and evolutionary history
5.1 Why to know phylogeny?
5.2 Phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree
5.2.1 Construction of tree using molecular data
5.2.1.1 Selection of target molecular marker
5.2.1.2 Retrieval of sequences
5.2.1.3 Multiple sequence alignment
5.2.1.4 Selection of appropriate model
5.2.1.5 Making of tree
5.2.1.6 Assessment of tree reliability
5.2.2 Rooting of tree
6. Classification of plant-parasitic nematodes
6.1 Higher classification of nematodes
6.2 Nematodes and their allies
6.3 Classification of nematodes with special reference to plant-parasites
7. Representation and management of taxonomic data
7.1 Types of taxonomic literatures
7.2 Management of taxonomic data for a publication
1.1 General body organization
1.2 The human and animal parasites
1.3 The plant parasites
1.4 Paleontological evidence of parasitism
1.5 Types of parasitism
1.6 The free-living nematodes
1.7 Abundance and survival
1.8 Nematodes in nature – agriculture continuum
1.9 Relevance of biosystematic knowledge for a nematologist
2. General principles for nematode taxonomy and systematics
2.1 Concept and definition of taxonomy
2.2 Levels of taxonomy
2.2.1 Alpha-taxonomy
2.2.2 Beta-taxonomy
2.2.3 Gamma-taxonomy
2.3 Taxonomic attempts towards classification
2.3.1 Morphotaxonomy
2.3.2 Numerical taxonomy
2.3.3 Cytotaxonomy
2.3.4 Chemotaxonomy
2.3.5 Molecular taxonomy
2.3.6 Other types of taxonomy concepts
2.4 Concept and definition of systematics
2.5 Systematics and taxonomy: which holds what?
2.6 From systematics to classification
2.7 Biological classification and hierarchy
2.8 Theories of classification
2.8.1 Essentialism
2.8.2 Nominalism
2.8.3 Empiricism
2.8.4 Cladism
2.8.5 Evolutionary classification
2.9 Brief classification of life forms
2.10 Definition of species and species concept
2.10.1 Morphological species concept
2.10.2 Non-dimensional species concept
2.10.3 Phenetic species concept
2.10.4 Biological species concept
2.10.5 Genetic species concept
2.10.6 Hennigian species concept
2.10.7 Agamospecies concept
2.10.8 Evolutionary species concept
2.10.9 Taxonomic species concept
2.10.10 Reproductive competition concept
2.10.11 Ecological species concept
2.10.12 Phylogenetic species concept
2.10.13 Autapomorphic species concept
2.10.14 Recognition species concept
2.10.15 Cladistic species concept
2.10.16 Cohesion species concept
2.10.17 Genealogical concordance concept
2.10.18 Evolutionary significant unit concept
2.10.19 Internodal species concept
2.10.20 Composite species concept
2.10.21 Genotypic cluster concept
2.10.22 Genic species concept
2.10.23 Differential fitness species concept
2.10.24 Successional species concept
2.10.25 Quasispecies concept
2.11 Speciation and extinction
2.11.1 Species complex, species flock and taxonomic inflation
2.12 Below-species ranks
2.13 Concept of genus
2.14 System of nomenclature
3. Character and character types
3.1 Definition of character
3.1.1 Character state
3.1.2 Character weighing
3.1.3 Character complexity
3.1.4 Character polarity
3.2 Types of character
3.2.1 General characters
3.2.2 Phenetic characters
3.2.3 Phylogenetic characters
3.2.4 Cladistic characters
3.3 Character data and selection of characters
4. Identification of nematodes
4.1 Approaches of identification
4.2 Taxonomic key
4.2.1 Types of taxonomic key
4.2.1.1 Single-access keys
4.2.1.2 Multi-access keys
4.2.1.3 Interactive keys
4.2.2 Use, construction, merits and demerits of taxonomic keys
4.3 Tools and techniques of identification
4.3.1 Morphological tools
4.3.2 Biochemical tools
4.3.3 Molecular tools
4.4 Identification of common plant-parasitic nematode genera
5. Note on molecular phylogeny and evolutionary history
5.1 Why to know phylogeny?
5.2 Phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree
5.2.1 Construction of tree using molecular data
5.2.1.1 Selection of target molecular marker
5.2.1.2 Retrieval of sequences
5.2.1.3 Multiple sequence alignment
5.2.1.4 Selection of appropriate model
5.2.1.5 Making of tree
5.2.1.6 Assessment of tree reliability
5.2.2 Rooting of tree
6. Classification of plant-parasitic nematodes
6.1 Higher classification of nematodes
6.2 Nematodes and their allies
6.3 Classification of nematodes with special reference to plant-parasites
7. Representation and management of taxonomic data
7.1 Types of taxonomic literatures
7.2 Management of taxonomic data for a publication
- Edition: 1
- Latest edition
- Published: December 1, 2025
- Language: English
VP
Victor Phani
Dr. Victor Phani is currently serving as an Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Entomology at College of Agriculture, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India. He received his BSc (Ag) Hons degree from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India, and MSc and PhD from ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. He visited the University of Hertfordshire, UK for his ad-interim PhD research. He has been the recipient of multiple awards and gold medals for his research excellence, and published several research and review articles in journals of international and national repute. He is also engaged in different projects financed by government and private sectors as Principal Investigator and Co- Principal Investigator. Phani’s research has focused on host-parasite interaction, biocontrol, and taxonomic and ecological studies of the plant-parasitic nematodes.
Affiliations and expertise
Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Entomology at College of Agriculture, West Bengal, IndiaPC
Pablo Castillo
Dr. Pablo Castillo is currently serving as Research Scientist, Department of Crop Protection at Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Spanish National Research Council, Córdoba, Spain. He received his B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Granada, Spain, in June 1984 and his Ph.D. in Nematology at the University of Granada in December 1988. He joined the Department of Crop Protection at the Centre for Agricultural Research and Formation in Granada from the regional government of Andalusia in 1989. In 1990 he was recipient of the Phytopathological Research Award ‘Antonio Ciccarone’, from the Mediterranean Phytopathological Union, and in 1992 moved to Córdoba (Spain) to the Department of Crop Protection at the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture belonging to the Spanish Council for Scientific Research, where he is now a research scientist. Castillo’s research has focused primarily on plant-nematode and nematode-soilborne fungi interactions, as well as diagnosis of nematode diseases, host-parasite relationships and nematode control by means of strategies compatible with sustainable agriculture. He has produced more than 280 peer reviewed research articles and co-authored several comprehensive monographs of the plant-parasitic nematode genera Rotylenchus, Pratylenchus and Meloidogyne.
Affiliations and expertise
Research Scientist, Department of Crop Protection at Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Spanish National Research Council, Córdoba, Spain