Crustorhabditis

Crustorhabditis	Contents	Rev 09/20/2023
	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Crustorhabditis Menu		Ecosystem Functions and Services
	Distribution	Management
Return to Rhabditidae Menu	Feeding	References
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Classification:

Chromadorea
Rhabditia; Rhabditida; Rhabditoidea; Rhabditidae

Crustorhabditis Sudhaus, 1974

Type species of the genus: Rhabditis (Crustarhabditis) riemanni Sudhaus, 1974

Crustorhabditis is morphologically similar to Distolabrellus. The genera are distinguished by the morphology of the lip region; there are similar lips, rounded at outer side and more acute at inner side in Crustorhabditis while in Distolabrellus three longer lips alternate with three shorter lips. Also, the spicules are fused for two-thirds of their length in Crustorhabditis and for one-half or slightly less in Distolabrellus (Anderson, 1983; Ruiz-Cuenca, and Abolafia, 2022).

Lip region with six separate lips, each with apical setose-like sensilla,
Stoma tubular, rhabditioid, with two acute denticles at glottoid apparatus
Pharynx rhabditois with metacorpus swollen, isthmus narrow and postcorpus (basal bulb) spherical to oval with central valve apparatus (grinder).

Female:

Monodelphic-prodelphic with very posterior vagina,

Male:

Bursa peloderan and anteriorly open, with ten pairs of bursal papillae (genital papillae and phasmids)
Spicules fused for two-thirds of their length.

Ref: Ruiz-Cuenca, and Abolafia, 2022

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

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Distribution:

Usually reported from seaweed deposits on beaches or associated with semi-terrestrial crabs and amphipods (Ruiz-Cuenca, and Abolafia, 2022).

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Feeding:

Bacterivore, probably epistrate feeding.

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Biology and Ecology:

Coastal/marine nematodes; tolerant of saline conditions.

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Life Cycle:

For Ecophysiological Parameters for this genus, click

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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

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Management:

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References:

Anderson, R.V. 1983. Description of Distolabrellus veechi n. gen., n. sp. (Nematoda:Rhabditidae). J. Nematology 15:70-75.

Nicholas, W.L. 2004. Crustorhabditis chitwoodi sp. nov. (Nematoda:Rhabditidae): An intertidal species from the coast of New South Wales, Australia, with observations on its ecology and life history. NZ J. Marine and Freshwater Res. 38:803-898

Ruiz-Cuenca, A.N., Abolafia, J. 2022. Description of Crustorhabditis dunicola n. sp. (Rhabditida, Mesorhabditidae) from coastal dunes in Spain, including the first SEM study of a representative of the genus, Nematology 24:733-745.