Rev 09/23/2023
Chromadorea
Chromadoria
Tylenchina
Aphelenchoidea
Aphelenchoididae
Ektaphelenchinae Paramonov, 1964
The subfamily Ektaphelenchinae is a diverse group of stylet-bearing nematodes that are generally considered mycophagous or parasites of insects and plants (Hunt, 2008; Pedram, 2019; Pedram et al., 2020). .As of 2016, there are five genera in the Ektaphelenchinae, Ektaphelenchus Fuchs, 1937, Berntsenus Massey, 1974, Cryptaphelenchus Fuchs, 1937, Ektaphelenchoides Baujard, 1984 and Devibursaphelenchus Kakuliya, 1967. Ektaphelenchoides was created for those Ektaphelenchus-like species with a long mucron on the tail (Baujard, 1984). Some other genera are also placed in the subfamily by some aouthors
Other than Berntsemus, the genera have similar characteristics, including a slender body, stylet lacking knobs, muscular metacorpus, esophageal glands overlapping the intestine and, an appareltly non-functional anus with the intestinal tract terminating in a sac. In contrast, the rare genus Berntsemus has different structure of the stylet, spicules and has a functional rectum and anus. It's position in the Ektaphelenchinae is considered questionable ( Alvani et al., 2016).
Alvani, S., Esmat Mahdikhani-Moghadam, Robin M. Giblin-Davis and Majid Pedram, 2016. Description of Ektaphelenchus berbericus n. sp. (Rhabditida: Ektaphelenchinae) from eastern Iran. Nematology 18:1063-1077.
Baujard, P. 1984. Remarques sur la sous-famille des Ektaphelenchinae Paramonov, 1964 et proposition d’Ektaphelenchoides n. gen. (Nematoda: Aphelenchoididae). Revue de Nematologie 7:147-171.
Hunt, D.J. 2008. A checklist of the Aphelenchoidea (Nematoda: Tylenchina). Journal of Nematode Morphology and Systematics 10(2007):99-135.
Pedram, M. 2019. Two Ektaphelenchinae Paramonov, 1964 (Nematoda: Rhabditida) from Iran have tripartite stylet, with similar observations in other species. PLoS ONE 14, e0215731. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215731
Pedram, M., Gu, J., Liu, L. and Guo, K. 2020. Description of Cryptaphelenchus paravaricaudatus sp. n. (Aphelenchoidea: Ektaphelenchinae) from Pinus massoniana Lamb. in China. Nematology 22:723-732. DOI: 10.1163/15685411-00003335