Globodera pallida DETECTED IN GALICIA.

Globodera pallida (Stone, 1973) Behrens 1975, is a nematode forming cysts that together with the golden nematode Globodera rostochensis (Wollenweber, 1923) Skarbilovich 1959, are causing important losses on the potato crop, being both species known as "potato cyst nematodes". They are facultative endoparasites and adapt well to different situations, thus being difficult to eradicate; when dying, female skin hardens and becomes a protective cover for the 600-800 eggs which can remain in a latent stage for several years if conditions are adverse.

The main damage caused by these nematodes are important crop yield reductions and tubercle size reduction. Both are regarded as quarantine pathogens and are included in the A2 EPPO Alert List (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization), and Council Directive 2007/33/EC of 11 June 2007 on the control of potato cyst and repealing Directive 69/465/EEC establishing the measures that the members may adopt against cyst nematodes to detect them, determine their distribution, avoid their propagation and control them.

In Galicia, Globodera rostochensis is widely disseminated in the potato productive areas, however, in our region, Globodera pallida presence is scarce. In 2007, at our laboratory, G. pallida was only detected in two samples. Before that date it had been not detected in Galicia, according to Bello A., et al. 2005 which performs an study on the distribution of the quarantine nematodes in Spain, among them Globodera pallida.

Close-up of stylets of 2nd instar juvenil		Egg with nematode before eclosion