Revised 11/02/26
Phylum Nematoda
Class Chromadorea
Subclass Chromadoria
Araeolaimida
Araeolaimoidea
Diplopeltidae Filipjev, 1918
In some texts, Diplopeltidae sensu lato is considered to consist of families Diplopeltidae and Cylindrolaimidae. Some authorities suggest dividing the Diplopeltidae into two subfamilies: Diplopeltinae and Cylindrolaiminae based on the cylindrical buccal cavity of Cylindrolaimus. However, the character also occurs in some of the other genera of the family. Recent texts consider the Diplopeltidae a single family.
Characteristics of the Diplopeltidae:
Cuticle smooth or striated; lateral alae absent.
Labial sensilla usually papilliform or not visible.
Four obvious cephalic sensilla setiform, bases just anterior to amphidial fovea
Amphids curve to a bowl shape in the form of a spiral with one loop, or cryptospiral.
Ocelli sometimes present.
Stoma apical or shifted to diorsal or ventral side of body
Buccal cavity narrow and tubular or very small. Tooth-like formation absent.
Esophagus with one ventral and two subdorsal pharyngeal tubes. Terminal bulb sometimes present; valves absent
Females diselphic-amphidelphis; ovaries paired (except in Cylindrolaimus monhystera), outstretched
Males usually diorchic.
Spicules symmetrical, gubernaculum present
Precloacal supplements mostly absent.
Tail conical or conico-cylindrical.
All genera except Cylindrolaimus and Edalonema are exclusively marine.
Andrássy, I. 2005. Free-living Nematodes of Hungary, Vol. I. Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest.
Fonseca, G. and Bezerra, T.N. 2013. Order Araeolaimida De Coninck & Schuurmans Stekhoven, 1933. In Schmidt-Rhaesa (Ed). Handbook of Zoology. De Gruyter. DOI:10.1515/9783110274257.467
Gerlach, S.A. 1950. Die Diplopeltiden, eine gruppe freilebender nematoden. Kieler Meeresforschungen, 7: 138-156
Holovachov, O. 2017. Belgopeltula belgica (Vincx & Gourbault, 1992) gen. et comb. nov.and Pseudaraeolaimus micramphidium sp. nov. from the west coast of Sweden, and reappraisal of the genus Pseudaraeolaimus Chitwood, 1951(Nematoda: Araeolaimida: Diplopeltidae). European Journal of Taxonomy 383: 1-21
Leduc, D. 2017. Four new nematode species (Araeolaimida: Comesomatidae, Diplopeltidae) from the New Zealand continental slope. Zootaxa 4237 (2): 244-264
Tchesunov, A.V. and Miljutina, M.A. 2008. A new free-living nematode lntasia monohystera gen. n., sp. n. (Nematoda, Araeolaimida, Diplopeltidae) from the Barents Sea and the White Sea, with a key to genera of Diplopeltidae. Russian Journal of Nematology, 16:33-48
Want more information about nematodes? Go to Nemaplex Main Menu.