Ektaphelenchus		Contents		Rev 09/01/2023
		Classification		Hosts
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Ektaphelenchus Menu		Economic Importance		Damage
		Distribution		Management
Return to Aphelenchoididae Menu		Feeding		References
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Classification:

       Tylenchida
       Aphelenchina
         Aphelenchoidea
          Aphelenchoididae
           Ektaphelenchinae

Ektaphelenchus (Fuchs, 1937) Skrjabin, Shikhobalova, Sobolev, Paramonov & Sudarikov, 1954

Type species of the genus: Ektaphelenchus hylastophilus (Fuchs, 1937) Skrjabin, Shikhobalova, Sobolev, Paramonov & Sudarikov, 1954

The genus Ektaphelenchus is considered by some authors to be in the family Ektaphelenchidae.

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Morphology and Anatomy:

• Nematodes of varied length.
• Lip region large, offset from body contour, caplike, wider than neck region.
• Stylet >15um, shaft with or without basal knobs.

Female:

• Monodelphic, prodelphic postuterine sac present of variable length.
• Vulval lips not protruding;.
• Tail conical to sharp or rounded point.

Male:

• Spicules paired, not fused, scooped, trough-like, with delicate rostrum; ventral element continuing line of shafts.
• Caudal alae and gubernaculum absent.
• Tail short, conical, with 2-3 pairs of caudal papillae.

Ref: Nickle, 1970.

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Distribution:

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Economic Importance:

Most species of Ektaphelenchus species have been described from pine trees (Ruhm, 1956; Massey, 1974) and associated with insect hosts (Hunt, 1993). Little is known of theirl biology and mode of interaction with insect vectors or other nematode species (Gu et al., 2013). Both E. taiwanensis and E. koreanus  have been reported to feed on Aphelenchoides sp. (Gu et al.,2013; Gu et al., 2019).

The potential predatory role of Ektaphelenchus spp. on insects and other nematodes requires further research.

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Feeding:

Many species are predators of insects although E. taiwanensis was observed to feed on nematodes (Aphelenchoides sp.).

The insect predators form cocoon-like structures under the elytra of insects or on the hind wings.  They are assumed to feed by penetrating the isect with their stylets (Gu et al., 2013).

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Hosts:

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Life Cycle:

Ecophysiological Parameters:

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Damage:

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Management:

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References:

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.

Gu, J., Maria, M., Fang, Y., Liu, L. 2019. Description of Ektaphelenchus koreanus n. sp. (Nematoda:Ektaphelenchidae) with morphometrical notes on the Ektaphelenchus species. J. Nematology 51:  DOI: 10.21307/jofnem-2019-049.

Gu, J., Wang, J., Chen, X. 2013. Description of Ektaphelenchus taiwanensis sp.n. (Nematoda: Ektaphelenchinae) found in packaging wood from Taiwan.  Nematology 15:329-338.

Heydari, F. and Pedram, M. 2021. Description of Ektaphelenchus masseyi n. sp. (Rhabditida: Ektaphelenchinae) found in dead wood, from Iran. Nematology 21:517-528.

Hunt, D. J. 1993. Aphelenchida, Longidoridae and Trichodoridae: their systematics and bionomics, CAB International, Wallingford.

Nickle, W.R. 1970. A Taxonomic Review of the Genera of the Aphelenchoidea (Fuchs, 1937) Thorne, 1949 (Nematoda: Tylenchida) . J. Nematology 2:375-392.

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Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: September 01, 2023.