Family Enchelidiidae

                                 Revised 06/18/26

Classification:

Phylum Nematoda

Class Enoplea

Subclass Enoplia

Order Enoplida

Suborder Oncholaimina

 Superfamily Oncholaimoidea

Enchelidiidae Filipjev, 1918

As of 2014, about 7,000 species of free-living marine nematodes had been described, most from Europe, some from China and Korea (Hong and Lee, 2014).

Type genus of the family: Enchelidium Ehrenberg, 1836

• Enchelidiidae are free-living marine nematodes
• Enchelidiidae consists of one subfamily (Enchelidiinae), 18 genera and 171 species (Hong and Lee, 2014).
• Except in Abelbolla and Ledovitia, there are several muscular bulbs in the esophagus of enchelidids.
• Cuticle smooth or transversely striated and ornamented with longitudinal ridges.
• Buccal cavity with one, two or three unequal teeth, with or without rows of denticles. When two ventrosublateral teeth present, right tooth often larger.
•  Sexually dimorphism in buccal cavity and pharynx present or absent (reduced in males of Calyptronema, Polygastrophora and Symplocostoma).
• Pharynx crenate, gradually enlarging posteriorly or with several muscular bulbs in females.
• Amphidial fovea either non-spiral or dorsally spiral; possibly sexually dimorphic.
•  emales didelphic-amphidelphic (monodelphic-opisthodelphic only in Calyptronema sabulicola).
• Demanian system always absent.
• Males with or without precloacal supplements, papilliform or winged.

Ref: Fonseca-Genevois et al., 2009; Smol et al., 2014

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References

Andrassy, I. 2009. Free-living Nematodes of Hungary (Nematoda Errantia) Vol. 111. Humgarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. 508p.

Fonseca-Genevois, V. da, V Venekey, W  Decraemer. 2009.  Bernardius lineatus gen. n., sp. n. (Enoplida: Enchelidiidae), a remarkable nematode with ornamented cuticle from a Brazilian tropical sandy beach. Nematology 11:275-287

Hong, J-H. and Lee, W. Two new species of free-living marine nematodes (Nematoda: Oncholaimida: Enchelidiidae) from Maemul Island, Korea. Zootaxa 3785 (3): 419–437.

Smol, N. & Coomans, A. (2006) Order Enoplida. In: Eyualem, A., Andrassy, I. & Traunspurger, W. (Eds.), Freshwater nematodes: ecology and taxonomy. CABI, Wallingford, pp. 225-292

Smol, N., Muthumbi, A., Sharma, J. 2014. Order Enoplida, 7.3. In Schmidt-Rhaesa, A. (ed) Handbook of Zoology. De Gruyter, Berlin

Timm, R.W. 1961. The marine nematodes of the Bay of Bengal. Proceedings of Pakistan Academy of Sciences,1:1-88

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