Protopoikilolaimus		Contents		Rev 08/24/2026
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Protopoikilolaimus Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Rhabditidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Chromadorea

  Rhabditia

   Rhabditida

      Rhabditoidea

        Rhabditidae

    Type species of the genus: Protopoikilolaimus formosanus Kanzaki, Liang, Tanaka & Li 2025

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Morphology and Anatomy:

• Six setiform inner labial sensilla, six papilliform outer labial sensilla, and four short setiform cephalic sensilla.
•  Amphid at level of gymnostom.
• Stoma closed by six half circle- to trapezoidal-shaped flaps. Stoma tube-like with glottoid apparatus at metastegostom.
• Pharyngeal sleeve very short. Median bulb present. Basal bulb hexagonal with double haustrum.
• Both male and female tail with whip-like extension.

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Distribution:

Type species described from termite nest in Taiwan.

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Feeding:

Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Protopoikilolaimus

 The termite associate of the type species, Stylotermes. halumicus, is considered rare. However, association specificity this termite with type species P. formosanus is unknown.  As indicated by Kanzaki et al (2025), nematodes are associated with insects and other invertebrates as pathogens, parasites, phoretic associates, commensalists, mutualists, and other possible relationships.

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Biology and Ecology:

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Life Cycle:

Among the insect-associated nematodes, phoretic associates use insects as hosts for transportation, and propagate in the larval-pupal habitat of the host insects while feeding on microbes or other nematodes (predators). Unfortunately, the ecological diversity and ecophysiolohy of most insect-associated nematodes are lagely unknown (Kanzaki et al., 2025).

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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

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Management:

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References:

Kanzaki, N., Liang, W-R., Tanaka, R. and Li, H-F. 2025. Protopoikilolaimus formosanus n. gen., n. sp. (Rhabditidae) isolated from Stylotermes halumicus from Taiwan. Nematology 27: 729-745.

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Revised by Howard Ferris.
Revised: August 24, 2026.

For more information on nematodes: Go to Nemaplex Main Menu