Mesacanthion		Contents		Rev: 09/22/2024
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Mesacanthion Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Thoracostomopsidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Enoplea

  Enoplia
        Enoplida

            Enoplina

                Enoploidea

                     Thoracostomopsidae

Enoplolaiminae

Mesacanthion  Filipjev, 1927

Type species of the genus: Mesacanthion lucifer Filipjev, 1927

    Synonyms:

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Morphology and Anatomy:

The genus Mesacanthion is characterized by:

• Outer labial and cephalic setae at center or anterior of cephalic capsule.
• Mandibles well developed, provided with claws, arch-shaped,consisting of 2 rod-like columns connected anteriorly by a curved bar.
• Three short short usually equal onchia, shorter than the mandibles
• Cephalic setae in the middle or anterior to the cephalic capsule
• Tapered tail with a short dactyli/claviform terminus
• Spicules mostly short, if long then with a gubernaculum and caudal apophysis.

ref: Smol et al., 2014; Jeong et al., 2019

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Distribution:

Free-living predatory marine and freshwater nematodes. Most species (98%) are recorded from marine environments with exception of Mesacanthion alexandrinus Nicholas, 1993 which was recorded in freshwater environment.

Of the valid species by year 2019, 40% (16) were described from Europe; 20% (eight) from America (four from North and South); 17.5% (seven) from Asia (mainly from western Asia), 15% (six) from Africa, and 7.5% (three) from Australia.

The genus Mesacanthion is the second most diverse genus in the family next to Enoplolaimus with 40 valid species recorded by 2019 (Jeong et al., 2019)

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Feeding:

Predator species

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Biology and Ecology:

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Life Cycle:

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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

Predators; regulation of opportunistic species.

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Management:

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References:

Guilherme, B.C., Da Silva, M.C., Esteves, A.M. 2009. Description of a new species of Epacanthion (Thoracostomopsidae, Nematoda) from Brazil and a modified key for species identification. Zootaxa 2096:99-1089.

Jeong, R., Tchesunov, A.V., Lee, W. 2019. Bibliographic revision of Mesacanthion Filipjev, 1927 (Nematoda: Thoracostomopsidae) with description of a new species from Jeju Island, South Korea. PeerJ, DOI 10.7717/peerj.8023

Smol, N., Muthumbi, A., Sharma, J. 2014. Order Enoplida, 7.3. In Schmidt-Rhaesa, A. (ed) Handbook of Zoology. De Gruyter, Berlin

Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: September 22, 2024.