The Relationship between the Tail Morphology of Adult Female Bursaphelenchus xylophilus and Its Host

Terminal mucro of adult female was the distinct character between Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Bx) and its allied species Bursaphelenchus mucronatus(Bb). In general, Bx had no mucro. But it could have mucro in some situations. In the test, Bx without mucro was inoculated on Chineses pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) and Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii). The results showed that 85% of adult females Bx isolated from Chinese pine had terminal mucro. On Japanese black pine only 4.2% of adult females Bx had terminal mucro. Bx with terminal mucro from Chinese pine was re-inoculated on the fungus, Pestalotia sp. and Japanese black pine. It was found that 100% adult females had no terminal mucro on the fungus and 3.4% with terminal mucro on Japanese black pine.