Rev: 11/21/2023
Synonyms:
Type species: Eubostrichus hopperi (Hopper & Cefalu, 1973) Muthumbi, Verschelde & Vincx, 1995
Body slender, finely striated, often coated with layer of mucus and dense growth of crescent-shaped bacteria.
Head rounded with six inner and outer labial papilliform sensilla and four cephalic setae and various subcepahlic setae.
Two to three subventral pairs of enlarged setae at the level of posterior pharynx; on the rest of the body, somatic setae considerably shorter or replaced by porids.
Amphid fovea spiral, difficult to observe in most of the specimens because of mucus and bacteria on cuticle.
Pharynx muscular without anterior widening, terminal bulb almost round, cardia small, rounded.
Tail conical-tapered, tip rounded with two separate outlets of caudal glands;
Females:
Didelphic, ovaries antidromously reflexed, both genital branches to the left of intestine.
Two to three caudal pairs of setae in females and juveniles.
Monorchic, anterior testis to the left of the intestine.
Spicules paired and curved, capitulum present;
Gubernaculum a narrow rod with distal end curved hook-like,
No supplements.
Four subventral pairs of enlarged setae in caudal region
Ref: Armenteros et al., 2014
Free-living marine nematodes in tidal sands and coral reefs.
Nematodes in the subfamily Stilbonematinae of the Desmodoridae are associated with, and feed on, dense coatings of sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophic gammaproteobacteria with which they are apparently obligately symbiotic. The nematodes inhabit environments with low oxygen availability and reducing conditions.Essentially, the nematodes farm their bacterial associates by migrating to ocean sediments rich in hydrogen sulfide (Bulgheresi Reference Bulgheresi2011; Murfin et al. Reference Murfin, Dillman, Foster, Bulgheresi, Slatko, Sternberg and Goodrich-Blair2012; Blaxter and Koutsovoulos, 2015).
Armenteros, M., Ruiz-Abierno, A., Decraemer, W. 2014. Taxonomy of Stilbonematinae (Nematoda: Desmodoridae): description of two new and three known species and phylogenetic relationships within the family. Zool; J. of the Linnean Soc. 171-1-21.
Blaxter, M. and Koutsovoulos, G. 2015. The evolution of parasitism in Nematoda. Parasitology 142: S26-S39.
Bulgheresi, S. (2011). Calling the roll on Laxus oneistus immune defense molecules. Symbiosis 55, 127-135.
Chitwood, B.G. 1936. Some marine nematodes from North Carolina. Proc. Helmint. Soc. Wash. 3: 1-16.
Murfin, K. E., Dillman, A. R., Foster, J. M., Bulgheresi, S., Slatko, B. E., Sternberg, P. W. and Goodrich-Blair, H. (2012). Nematode-bacterium symbioses - cooperation and conflict revealed in the “omics†age. Biological Bulletin 223, 85-102.