Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>The pinewood nematode (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PWN</jats:styled-content>), <jats:italic>Bursaphelenchus xylophilus</jats:italic>, is the causal agent of pine wilt disease. This species has been reported from the United States of America and Asia associated with important forestry tree species, including pine, spruce, fir, larch and other conifers. However, in Europe, the devastating epidemics centred in Portugal's mainland, and the most recent detections in Madeira Island and in Spain were restricted to <jats:italic>Pinus pinaster</jats:italic> alone. During the 2013 national survey, wilted <jats:italic>Pinus nigra</jats:italic> trees, from the central region of Portugal, were sampled. A <jats:italic>Bursaphelenchus</jats:italic> species was found in very high numbers, with an average up to 5000 nematodes per 10 g of wood, collected from different pine trees. Morphological identification of those specimens, including the presence of a bursa in the male tail, four lateral incisures, shape of spicules, presence of a vulva flap and female rounded tail, was in agreement with the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PWN</jats:styled-content> description. Species identification was confirmed also using species‐specific primers targeting the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">ITS</jats:styled-content> region of the ribosomal <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">DNA</jats:styled-content> to the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PWN</jats:styled-content>. Herein, <jats:italic>B. xylophilus</jats:italic> is reported for the first time associated with declining <jats:italic>P. nigra</jats:italic> in Portugal, and in Europe. Simultaneously, the insect vector <jats:italic>Monochamus galloprovincialis</jats:italic> was also detected colonizing the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PWN</jats:styled-content>‐infected <jats:italic>P. nigra</jats:italic>.</jats:p>