ABSTRACT
The family Pratylenchidae contains at present eight genera with about 160 species, many of which are insufficiently described in this chapter. The genus contains at present some 70 species, but about one-third are insufficiently described. The various characters are discussed with particular emphasis on their intraspecific variation, which determines their reliability. Seinhorst considered this of some value though admitting that the number may change with level of focus and that it is hardly possible to determine objectively which annules belong to the tail proper and which to the terminus in species like. All three included all species known to authors, except the notorious species inquirendae. In addition, the chapter gives a tabular compendium of the species treated. The uncertain state of the taxonomy of this genus is well illustrated by the widely diverging synonymies that have been proposed by e.g. Ryss, Tarjan and Frederick, and Frederick and Tarjan.
