Meloidogyne incognita

Meloidogyne incognita, commonly called the southern root-knot nematode or cotton root-knot nematode, is a plant-parasitic roundworm in the family Heteroderidae. It parasitizes plant roots and produces large, irregularly shaped galls on them, which in turn cause yellowing, wilting and stunting above ground as the plant struggles to take up water and nutrients, and severe infestations can kill the plant outright. With more than three thousand recorded host species among both monocots and dicots, it is exceptionally versatile and causes particularly severe damage to cassava, a crop that is a dietary staple across much of the tropics. It is considered one of the four most common root-knot nematode species worldwide and is regarded as probably the single most economically important plant-parasitic nematode across tropical and subtropical agriculture. The species is also notable for an unusual sensory ability, detecting temperature differences in soil as small as one thousandth of a degree Celsius per centimeter, a sensitivity that helps it locate suitable depths and root systems to infest. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/