This pest is is not known to be a vector and it is not vectored by any organism.

Laboratory methods that are acceptable for cyst extraction include sugar centrifugation, USDA cyst extractor, Fenwick can sieving, wet sieving, and elutriation.

Before plant flowering, white lemon-shaped females can be observed on the roots by the naked eye or under a dissecting microscope after gently shaking or washing the roots to remove adhering soil.

Slight to severe yellowing of cereal stands can be observed at an early stage of an infestation. Later, infested fields show patchy plant growth associated with poor tillering and shorter spikes.

Symptoms occur in patches that enlarge as the nematode population increases. Plants also tend to wilt during warmer portions of the day.

Morphological: Keys are available for identification by morphological characteristics of the cyst, second-stage juvenile, male, and female.

Mulvey (1972) provides a key to 39 species of Heterodera, including H. latipons, based on characteristics of cysts.

Handoo (2002) provides a key to the species within the H. avenae group, as well as a thorough review of morphological studies to date.

Heterodera latipons may occur by itself or in mixed populations that include closely related H. avenae or H. trifolii. H. latipons has been confused with several other cyst nematode species that parasitize cereals, including (but not limited to) H. avenae, H. bifenestra, H. filipjevi, H. hordecalis, H. mani, H. pakistanensis, H. torcomanica, H. zeae, and a more taxonomically distant species, Punctodera punctata.

Symptoms are similar to those caused by other biotic and abiotic stresses.

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and internal transcribed spacer ribosomal DNA (ITS-rDNA) have all been used to differentiate morphologically similar species (Bekal et al., 1997; Subbotin et al., 1999; Subbotin et al., 2001; Nicol, 2002; Rivoal et al., 2003; Tahna Maafi et al., 2003; Madani et al., 2004; Abidou et al., 2005).

Toumi et al. (2013) developed a species specific PCR based on actin protein sequences that can detect H. latipons.

Heterodera latipons, H. avenae, H. filipjevi, and H. mani, were also differentiated by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate plates using the enzymes esterase and malate dehydrogenase and aliquots of 25 females (Mokabli et al., 2001).