Mesodorylaimus malacitanus

Mesodorylaimus malacitanus	Contents	Rev 04/04/2023
	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Mesodorylaimus Menu		Ecosystem Functions and Services
	Distribution	Management
Return to Dorylaimidae Menu	Feeding	References
	Go to Nemaplex Main Menu	Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Enoplea

Dorylaimia
Dorylaimida

Dorylaimidae

Mesodorylaimus malacitanus Abolafia & Pena-Santiago, 2000

Morphology and Anatomy:

Female:

Slender nematodes, 1.18-1.39 mm long.
Outer cuticle layer thin along the entire body, with fine transverse striations more visible at level of head and tail.
Inner cuticle layer wider than the outer layer, becoming thickened at the caudal region.
Lateral chord 20-20% of the midbodv width. Lateral pores obscure.
Lip region slightly angular, offset by a more or less marked depression. Lips amalgamated.
Labial and cephalic papillae slightly protruding on head contour.
Cheilostome cylindrical or a truncate cone, three to four times as long as wide.
Amphid fovea cup-shaped, opening at level of the cephalic depression and occupying 30-40% of the midbody width.
Odontostyle 1.0-1.1 times longer than lip region width; aperture one-third to half of the total length.
Odontophore rod-like, 1.5-1.6 times as long as the odontostyle. Guiding ring simple.
Esophagus with slender but muscular anterior part which expands very gradually into the basal bulb. Basall bulb cylindrical, soccupies 39-45% of the total esophageal length.
Cardia conoid to subcylindrical, 1.5-2.0 times as long as wide, surrounded by intestinal tissue
Female reproductive system didelphicamphidelphic. Ovaries of variable length, in general not reaching the oviduct-uterus junction but sometimes surpassing it.
Oviduct with a slender part of prismatic cells and a well developed pars dilatata with narrow lumen. Sphincter separating oviduct and uterus.
Uterus a relatively short tube, 0.9-1.9 times as long as the corresponding body diameter; without sperm.
Vagina extending inwards to 60% of the corresponding body width. Pars proximalis vaginae twice as long as wide, with straight or sigmoid walls, and enveloped by a well developed circular musculature. Pars refringens vaginae with two trapezoid to triangular more or less separated sclerotizations Pars distalis vaginae rather short, about 4 pm long.
Vulva a transverse slit which in a funnellike depression of the body surface.
Prerectum 1.6-4.3 anal body widths long. Rectum relatively long, 1.5-1.7 anal body widths.
Tail long, tapering first more quickly (mainly at the dorsal side), then gradually to a quite cylindrical and straight slender portion with more or less rounded terminus;
Caudal pores two pairs: one subdorsal, another

Male unknown

Ref: (Abolafia and Pena-Santiago et al., 2000

Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:

Distribution:

Described from soil around roots of a eucalyptus tree, Malaga province, Spain.

Feeding:

Categorized as an omnivore (Yeates et al., 1993) and studied as a predator by Bilgrami (1995).

Life Cycle:

Ecophysiological Parameters:

For Ecophysiological Parameters for this species, click	If species level data are not available, click for genus level parameters

Ecosystem Functions and Services:

Predatory regulation of opportunistic species.

References:

Andrassy, I. 2009. Free-living Nematodes of Hungary III. Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. 608p.

Abolafia J. and Pena-Santiago, R. 2000. Nematodes of the order Dorylaimidafrom Andalusia Oriental, Spain. The genus Mesodorylaimus Andrassy, 1959. IV. Two Realtively small-sized new species with a compendium of their relatives. Annales Zoologica (Warsaw) 50:135-144

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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