Belgopeltula		Contents		Rev: 11/02/2026
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Belgopeltula Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Diplopeltidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Chromadorea

  Chromadoria

       Araeolaimida

Araeolaimoidea

Diplopeltidae

        Belgopeltula Holovachov, 2017

Type species of the genus: Belgopeltula breviceps (Vincx & Gourbault, 1992) Holovachov, 2017

    Synonyms:

Diplopeltula Gerlach, 1950

Back to Top

Morphology and Anatomy:

Species of the genus Belgopeltula are quite different from each other so that it is rather difficult to establish a concise generic diagnosis: a combination of many different characters occurs in several species (Vincx and Gourbault, 1992).

• Cuticle transversely striated; striae without ornamentation. Lateral alae absent.
• Body pores and epidermal glands absent. Somatic sensilla indistinct.
• Labial region bluntly rounded; lips fused. Inner labial sensilla invisible. Outer labial sensilla papilliform, located on anterior surface of lips.
• Cephalic sensilla setiform; their bases anterior to amphid.
•  Amphidial fovea unispural (circular) in female and double-loop-shaped in male
• Secretory-excretory system present; renette cell located near anterior part of intestine. Secretory-excretory duct very short, opens to the
  exterior at the level of cephalic setae bases.
• Oral opening shifted towards the dorsal side of the body; buccal cavity small and narrow, cheilostom short, remaining part of stoma undifferentiated.
•  Pharynx subdivided into anterior muscular fusiform corpus; postcorpus narrow and long, weakly muscled; valves absent. Pharyngeal gland orifices at base
  of stoma. Postcorpus is surrounded by six large pseudocoelomocyles.
• Three caudal glands present,  Spinneret present.

Back to Top

Distribution:

Free-living marine nematodes. Described from bottom sediments off the west coast of Sweden.

Back to Top

Feeding:

Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Belgopeltula

Presumably epistrate/dissoleved organic matter feeders

Back to Top

Biology and Ecology:

Back to Top

Life Cycle:

Back to Top

Ecosystem Functions and Services:

Back to Top

Management:

Back to Top

References:

Gerlach, S.A. 1950. Die Diplopeltiden, eine gruppe freilebender nematoden. Kieler Meeresforschungen, 7: 138-156

Holovachov, O. 2017. Belgopeltula belgica (Vincx & Gourbault, 1992) gen. et comb. nov.and Mudwigglus micramphidium sp. nov. from the west coast of Sweden, and reappraisal of the genus Pseudaraeolaimus Chitwood, 1951(Nematoda: Araeolaimida: Diplopeltidae). European Journal of Taxonomy 383: 1-21

Leduc, D. 2017. Four new nematode species (Araeolaimida: Comesomatidae, Diplopeltidae) from the New Zealand continental slope. Zootaxa 4237 (2): 244-264

Vincx, M. and Gourbault, N. 1992. Six new species of the genus Diplopeltula (Nematoda: Diplopeltidae) with remarks on the heterogeneity of the taxon  Hydrobiologia 230:165-178.

Back to Top

Revised by Howard Ferris: November 02, 2026.