Pontonema

 

Contents

  

Rev 03/18/2025

  Classification Hosts
Morphology and Anatomy Life Cycle
Return to Pontonema Menu Economic Importance Damage
Distribution Management
Return to Oncholaimdae Menu Feeding  References
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Classification:
Enoplea
     Enoplia
        Enoplida
              Oncholaimoidea
                    Oncholaimidae
Pontonematinae

Pontonema Leidy 1855

Type species of the genus: Pontonema vacillatum Leidy 1855

Synonyms:

 

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Morphology and Anatomy:

Pontonema mediterranea  (a) Lateral view of male head-end; (b) lateral viewof male tail-end; (c) lateral view of female tail.

Drawings from Warwick and Robinson (2000)

 
Body size range for the species of this genus in the database - Click:
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Distribution:

Free-living  marine nematodes, including in deep-sea sites.

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Economic Importance:

 

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Feeding:

  Opportunstic predators and epistrate ingesters.

Species of Pontonema dominate the macrobenthoo in organically-polluted marine sedients iwhere they increase opportunistically.  They are considered an indicator of such conditions (Warwick and Robinson, 2000.

Adults from Arctic deep-sea sites are facultative predators of other nematodes; the intestines have a number of partially degested nematode prey as well as spicules of prey nematodes.  Younger juveniles appear to feed on dissolved organic material and decaying organisms. Some juveniles observed with bodies of several Thalassomonhystera , especially T. molloyensis, in the intestine (Fonseca and Gallucci, 2008).

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Life Cycle:

For Ecophysiological Parameters for this genus, click 
 
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Damage:

 

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Management:

 

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References:

Fonseca, G., Gallucci, F. 2008. Direct evidence of predation in deep-sea nematodes: the case of Pontonema sp. Cah. Biol. Mar. 49:295-297.

Warwick, R.M.  and Robinson, J. 2000. Sibling species in the marine pollution indicator genus Pontonema Leidy (Nematoda: Oncholaimidae), with a description of P. mediterranea sp. nov. J. Natural History 34:641-662.

 

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Copyright 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: March 18, 2025.