Subfamily Brevibuccinae

                                 Rev 08/20/2020

Classification:

      Chromadorea

       Rhabditida
        
          Panagrolaimoidea

Panagrolaimidae

Brevibuccinae

Morphology and Anatomy:

With characteristics of the Panagrolaimidae and vulva post-equatorial; i.e. V=> 50%

Note, subfamily Brevibuccinae is elevated to family level by some recent authors, e.g. Abolafia and Pena-Santiago, 2018.

Three genera of the Brevibuccinae, Brevibucca Goodey, 1935, Cuticonema Sanwal, 1959 and Plechtonchus Fuchs, 1930, differ in the lip-region morphology and vulva position. The vulva–anus distance is shorter than tail length in Brevibucca and Cuticonema but longer in Plectonchus. Brevibucca and Plectonchus have reduced lips but Cuticonema has flap-like lips. The three genera lack a post-vulval sac. Members of Brevibuccinae occur mainly in tunnels of bark beetles or compost (Andrássy, 2005). The more recently-described genus Tarantobelus Abolafia and Pena-Santiago, 2018 is assocaietd with, and considered a parasite of, tarantulas; it has separated lips with small cuticular flaps on each  (Abolafia and Pena-Santiago, 2018). 

References

Abolafia, J. and Pena-Santiago, R. 2018. Morphological and molecular characterization of Tarantobelus arachnicida gen. n., sp. n. (Nematoda, Rhabditida, Brevibuccidae), a parasitic nematode of tarantulas. J. Helminthology 92:491-503.

Andrassy, I. 2005. Free-living Nematodes of Hungary, I (Nematoda errantia). Pedozoologica Hungarica 3. Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary. 518p.