Panagrolaimus		Contents		Rev 01/21/2026
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Panagrolaimus menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Panagrolaimidae menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Chromadorea
        Rhabditida
         Rhabditia
        Tylenchina

Panagrolaimoidea
          Panagrolaimidae

Panagrolaiminae

Panagrolaimus Fuchs, 1930

Type species of the genus: Panagrolaimus detritophagus Fuchs, 1930

Synonyms:

Asymmetricus Kreis, 1930

Neocephalobus Steiner, 1929 (restored to genus level by Bhat et al., 2025).

Pseudorhabditis Perroncito, 1880

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Morphology and Anatomy:

Identification of Panagrolaimus species from morphological characters is challenging due to variability of morphometric characters.  Molecular methods should improve their classification and identification.

Photographs indicating characteristics of the genus are of P. margarethe

Short cylindrical stoma.  Long tapering corpus with no offset metacorpus.  Valve in postcorpus.  Female monovarial, prodelphic, ovary reflexed, spermatheca axial or absent. Rapidly moving, very active nematodes.
Tail conical but asymmetrical, shorter on ventral side.
	Panagrolaimus male
	Male spicules with short terminal bifurcation.
	No caudal alae. Males lacking a midventral preclocacal papilla (Bhat et al., 2025)
Body size range for the species of this genus in the database - Click:

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Distribution:

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Feeding:

Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Panagrolaimus

Bacterial feeders (Yeates et al., 1993; Moens and Vincx, 1997).

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Biology and Ecology:

Members of the genus Panagrolaimus are bacterial-feeding nematodes  Some members of this genus can survive extreme desiccation by entering into  anhydrobiosis.

Panagrolaimus app. may be used as models for the study of the evolution of reproductive systems as they exhibit three reproductive modes: gonochoristic, hermaphroditic and parthenogenetic. This is a unique characteristic that has not yet been reported in other nematode species (Felix et al.,, 2000).

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Life Cycle:

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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

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Management:

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References:

Andrassy, I. 2005. Free-living Nematodes of Hungary I. Hungarian Natural History Museum 518p.

Bhat, A.H., Yadav, K., Abolafia, J., Chaubey, A.K., Fouad, D., Machado, R.A.R. 2025. Redescription of Neocephalobus aberrans Steiner, 1929 (Rhabditida, Panagrolaimidae) with restoration of the genus and its taxonomic implications. Nematology 27: 561-581.

Felix, M.-A., De Ley, P., Sommer, R.J., Frisse, L.M., Nadler, S.A., Thomas, W.K., Vanfleteren, J.R. and Sternberg, P.W. 2000. Evolution of vulva development in the Cephalobina (Nematoda). Developmental Biology 221, 68-86. DOI: 10. 1006/dbio.2000.9665

Moens, Y. and Vincx, M. 1997. Observations on the feeding ecology of estuarine nematodes. Journal of the Marine Biology Assoc. U.K. 77:211-227.

Thorne, G. 1937. A revision of the nematode family Cephalobidae Chitwood and Chitwood, 1934. Proc. Helminthol. Society Washington 4:1-16

Yadav, K., Bhat, A.H., Abolafia, J., Machado, R.A.R., Wani, S.M., Chaubey, A.K. 2023. Redescription and molecular characterisation of Panagrolaimus labiatus (Kreis, 1929) Andrassy, 1960 (Rhabditida, Panagrolaimidae) from India and proposal of P. burdwanensis Chaturvedi & Khera, 1979 as a junior synonym of P. labiatus. Nematology 25:151-168.

Yeates, G.W., T. Bongers, R. G. M. De Goede, D. W. Freckman, and S. S. Georgieva. 1993. Feeding habits in soil nematode families and genera - An outline for soil ecologists. Journal of Nematology 25:315-331

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Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: January 21, 2026 .