Record of a new location for tropical root knot nematode Meloidogyne luci in Slovenia

The plant parasitic nematode Meloidogyne ethiopica Whitehead has been reported from several European countries, including Slovenia, where it was first found in 2003. However, the description in 2014 of a new sister species, Meloidogyne luci Carneiro et al., 2014, called for the reclassification of all European and Turkish populations of M. ethiopica reported up to this date as M. luci. Both species M. ethiopica and M. luci have a very wide host range of monocotyledons and dicotyledons. They are pests of important agricultural crops such as maize, potatoes and variety of vegetables, and represent a serious threat for agricultural production in greenhouses as well as in the open fields in many EPPO countries. This paper reports a new location of the tropical root knot nematode species M. luci found in Slovenia in 2015