A software tool as an aid to the identification of species of Longidorus Micoletzky, 1922 (Nematoda: Dorylaimoidea)

The genus Longidorus includes plant-parasitic and virus vector species and is therefore of great practical importance. This paper describes a computer identification tool that uses only morphometrical data. The data used are the same as those of the polytomous keys of Chen et al. (1997) or Arias and Bravo (1997). For each specimen examined, the software computes the similarity to all 116 species of the genus accepted by Chen et al. (1997) and Loof and Chen (1999). In addition, a graphical multivariate presentation procedure, based on a distance matrix, is described to rapidly compare analysed specimens with reference data from the literature. A later version of the programme has been adapted for analysis of the genus Xiphinema.