Three New Species of Actinolaim Nematodes From India

Three new species of Actinolaimidae are described, two belonging to Paractinolaimus Meyl, 1957, and one to Westindicus Thorne, 1967. Paractinolaimus aruprus sp.n., is closely related to P. baldus Thorne, 1967 and P. microdentatus (Thorne, 1939) Meyl, 1957 but differs from the former in having a smaller odontostyle, anterior vulva and longer female tail while from the latter it differs in having longer female tail, shorter spicules and fewer ventromedian supplements. Paractinolaimus vulvapapillatus sp.n. is distinctive in being short, the posterior location of vulva and presence of papillae on both sides of vulva, and is closely related to P. indicus Khan & Ganguly, 1988 and P. vigor Thorne, 1967. Westindicus keralaensis sp.n. differs from all the three known species viz. W. brachycephalus Thorne, 1967, W. rapax Hunt, 1977 and W. cinctus (Cobb in Thorne, 1939) Thorne, 1967 in the presence of a comparatively short body, short female tail and many ventromedian supplements.