Identification key for agriculturally important plant-parasitic nematodes: a manual for nematology

Nematodes are diverse metazoans with an estimated one million species covering nearly all ecosystems in their roles as bacterivores, herbivores, parasites of animals and plants, and consumers of dissolved as well as particulate organic matter.

Their economic impact was estimated at a loss of $118 billion in 2001, half of that in rice and maize alone. Accuracy of species identification is therefore fundamental to our understanding and communication of the ecological role of any organism.

This manual, prepared to accompany the International Nematode Diagnosis and Identification Course (2012) covers:

• Methods for the extraction, identification and quantification of plant-parasitic nematodes
• Nematode classification
• Identification keys for nematodes of specific families and orders: Tylenchomorpha, Heteroderidae, Triplonchida, Dorylaimida.