Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003.
Presented at Nematology Symposium held at Coimbatore, India in February, 1981
The follar nematode Nothanguina phyllobia was first noticed in a small pocket in Coimbatore town, during May, 1979, causing galls on the leaves of the weed Solanum elaegnifolium Cav. Field observations showed that the leaf galls appeared after rainfall. The plants growing along ditches and shady situations generally had severe infestation of the nematode. No other weed, growing along with the affected plants, was infected. The affected leaves had a population of 19,533 and 25,565 nematodes/g, during the months of May and November, 1980, respectively. Laboratory experiments showed that the nematode survived under desiccation over anhydrous calcium chloride for over 7 months in leaf tissue. The nematode was highly tolerent to heat and survived for over 7 moths under a temperature of 40± 1°C.
