Nematodes in the Chambersiellidae are frequently reported in association with bark beetles.  The relationships are probably phoretic in that the nematodes are transported from tree to tree or to insect galleries by the beetles.

In a 1978 description of Bicirronema as a member of the family, Andrassy, 1978 proposed the following structure:

Fam. Chambersiellidae Thorne, 1937

      Subfam. Chambersiellinae Thorne, 1937

           Chambersiella Cobb, 1920

           Geraldius Sanwal, 1971

     Subfam. Bicirronematinae n. subfam. (Later elevaed to family level by DeLey, 1997)

           Bicirronema n. gen.

      Subfam. Macrolaiminae Sanwal, 1971

           Diastolaimus Rahm, 1928 Syn. Sanfafea Massey, 1963 ï

           Macrolaimellus Andrassy, 1966

           Macrolainus Maupas, 1900 Syn. Seleneella Rahm, 1932

By 1997, De Ley had elevated the subfamily Bicirronematinae to family level: Bicirronematidae.

The Chambersiellidae and Bicirronematidae history seems to go like this:

• Rahm, 1928 described Diastolaimus papillatus

• Goodey, 1951 synonymized Diastolaimus with Macrolaimus so it became Macrolaimus papillatus

• Thorne, 1937 established Chambersiellinae as a subfamily of Cephalobidae.

• Sanwal, 1957 removed Chambersiellinae from Cephalobidae and elevated it to Chambersiellidae

• Sanwal. 1957 separated Diastolaimus from Macrolaimus and transferred Diastolaimus to Chambersiellidae

• Massey, 1963 added Santafea and Macrolaimus to Chambersiellidae

• Sanwal 1971 transferred Chambersiella  bakeri to a new genus Geraldius

• Sanwal, 1971 grouped Chambersilella, Geraldius, Santafea and Diastolaimus into the Chambersiellinae based on the shape and structure of the stoma and Macrolaimis to the Macrolaiminae

• Andrassy, 1978 created Bicirronematidae as a subfamily of Chambersiellidae and included Bicirronema. Tricirronema and Trualaimus

• De Ley 1997 elevated Bicorronematinae to Bicrirronematidae

Accepting the removal of the Bicirronematinae, we follow Andrássy (1984) and Andrássy (2005) in recognizing the genera Catoralaimellus Siddiqi, 2002, Chambersiella Cobb, 1920, Cornilaimus Truskova & Eroshenko, 1977, and Geraldius Sanwal, 1971 in the subfamily Chambersiellinae and the genera Diastolaimus Rahm, 1928, Macrolaimellus Andrássy, 1966 and Macrolaimus Maupas, 1900 in the Macrolaiminae.

References:

Andrassy, I. 1966. Erd- und Süsswasser-Nematoden aus Ghana. Klasse Secernentea (Phasmidia). Annales Universitatis Scientiarum Budapestensis de Rolando Eötvös nominatae – Sectio Biologica, 8: 5-24

Andrassy, I. 1978. Bicirronema caledoniense n. gen., n. sp. and Amphidirhabditis longipapillata n. gen., n. sp. (Secernentia : Rhabditida), two rernarkable soil-nernatodes from New Caledonia. Rev. Nématol. 1 : 257-263

Andrassy, I. 1984. Klasse Nematoda. (Ordnungen Monhysterida, Desmoscolecida, Araeolaimida, Chromadorida, Rhabditida). Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 509 pp.

Andrassy, I. 2005.  Free-living Nematodes of Hungary, I. (Nematoda errantia). Hungarian Natural History Museum & Systematic Zoology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Budapest/ 518 pp.

Chitwood, B. G. 1933. On some nematodes of the superfamily Rhabditoidea and their status as parasites of reptiles and amphibians. J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 23: 508-520.
Chitwood, B. G., and M. B. Chitwood. 1934. Daubayia potomoca n. sp., a nematode parasite of snails, with a note on other nemas associated with molluses. Proc.Hehninthol. Soc. Wash. 1: 8-9.
Cobb, N. A.1920. One hundred new nemas. Contrib. Sei.Nematol. 9: 217-243.

De Ley, P. 1997. The current state of affairs in identification and diagnosis of genera of the family Cephalobidae (Nematode: Rhabditida). Meded. Fac. Landbouw. Toegen Biol. Weten. Univ, Gent 62(3a) 657-673.
Goodey, T. 1939. Cylindrocorpus nom. nov. for Cylindrogaster Goodey, 1927 (Nematoda). J. Helminthol. 17:149-150.
Goodey, 1951. Soil and freshwater nematodes. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London.

Holavachov, O. and Bostrom, S. 2005. Description of Tricirronema tamdaoense sp. n.(Rhabditida: Bicirronematidae) from Vietnam. J. Nem. Morph. and Syst. 8:51-56.

Massey, C. L. 1963. Santafea new genus (Rhabditoidea, Chambersie1lidae) and a change in the systematic position of Macrolaimus Maupas, 1900. Proc. He1minthol. Soc. Wash. 30: 26-28.

Maupas. E. 1900. Modes et formes de reproduction des nematodes. Arch. Zool. Exp. Gen. Ser. 3: 463-624.

Rahm, G. F. 1928. Alguns nematodes parasitas e semiparasitas das plantas culturaes do Brasil. Arch. Inst. BioI. Andina Lima, 1: 239-252.

Rahm, G. F. 1929. Nematodes parasitas e semi-parasitas de diversas plantas culturaes do Brasil. Arch. Inst. BioI. Andina Lhna, 1, 2, 67-135.

Sanwal, K. C. 1957. Chambersiellidae n. fam. (Nematoda) with emended diagnosis of the genus Chambersiella Cobb, 1920, description of C. bakeri n. sp., and discussion of taxonomic position. Can. J. Zool. 35:615-621.

Sanwal, K. C.1960. Taxonomic position of Macrolaimus papillatus (Rahm, 1928) Goodey, 1951, status of Diastolaimus Rahm. 1928, and emended diagnoses of Chambersie1lidae and Chambersiella Cobb. 1920 (Nematoda).Can. J. Zool. 38: 751-753.

Sanwal, K.C. (1971) Geraldius n.gen., Macolaiminae n.subfam. with a revison of the subfamilies and genera of Chambersiellidae (Nematoda). Canadian Journal of Zoology 49, 965-967.

Siddiqi, M.R. 2002. Catoralaimellus cornutus gen. n., sp. n., and two new species of Macrolaimellus (Nematoda: Cephalobidae). International Journal of Nematology 12:89-97.

Thorne, G. 1937. Revision of the nematode fami1y Cephalobidae Chitwood & Chitwood, 1934. Proc. HeIminthol. Soc. Wash. 4: 1-16.

Truskova, G.M. & Eroshenko, A.S. 1977. Nematodo-fauna vegetativnykh organov travjanistykhi i drevesnykh rastenij elnikov primorja. Trudy Biologio-Pochvennogo Instituta 47, 35-49.