Abstract

The distribution of Xiphinema diversicaudatum in an uncultivated woodland habitat in England and a cultivated soil in Scotland, was re-investigated in 1991 after an interval of 30 and 24 years, resp. In the undisturbed habitat, nematodes had a distribution similar to that in 1961 but with a lower population density. In the cultivated habitat, nematodes were aggregated in several discrete populations associated with the cultivation and change of cropping in the intervening years but had spread little further horizontally into the raspberry crop, planted in 1982. Although strawberry latent ringspot and arabis mosaic nepoviruses were present in 1966, only the latter virus was found in crop and weed plants in 1991. The X. diversicaudatum populations from the two locations were morphologically similar to each other and to other populations, including those used for a redescription of the species.