Rhyssocolpus		Contents		Rev 06/16/2023
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Rhyssocolpus Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Nordiidae Menu		Feeding		References
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Classification:

The genus was proposed by Andrassy, 1971 to accommodate  R. iuventutis Andrassy, 1971 along with  R. microdorus (Schiemer, 1965) Andrassy, 1971 and the type species, R. vulvostriatus (Stefanski, 1924) Andrassy, 1971, which were transferred from Enchodelus Thorne, 1939 and Eudorylaimus Andrassy, 1959, respectively.

Subsequently, several new species were added (Ebsary, 1984; Gagarin, 1985; Andrassy, 1986, 2003; Pedram et al., 2011).

 Andrassy (2009) redefined Enchodelus and transferred a substantial proportion of its species to Heterodorus Altherr, 1952 which is quite similar to Rhyssocolpus, although both are regarded as valid taxa.

Molecular analyses have demonstrated that the evolutionary relationships between these three genera are not as close as expected and that the Nordiidae is an artificial group (Holterman et al., 2008; Pedram et al., 2011; Pena-Santiago et al., 2015).

Valid species as of 2015 (per Pena-Santiago et al., 2015).

• R. vulvostriatus (Stefanski, 1924) Andrassy, 1971 (Type species)
• R. aquilonius Andrassy, 2003
• R. arcticus Ebsary, 1984
• R. fluviatilis Gagarin, 1985
• R. iuventutis Andrassy, 1971
• R. microdorus (Schiemer, 1965) Andrassy, 1971
• R. repis (Brzeski, 1992) Vinciguerra, 2006
• R. vinciguerrae Pedram, Pourjam, Robbins, Ye & Pena-Santiago, 2011

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Morphology and Anatomy:

• Body length 0.9-2 mm
• Cuticle smoothe but wrinkled on ventral side anterior and posterior to vulva
• Lip region slightly offset by a depression. Lips completely amalganated
• Amphid aperture large.
• Odontostyle narrow, shorter than lip region width
• Odontophore with basal flanges
• Esophagus expansion starting at about 70% of esophagus length
• Tail short, conical, ventrally arcuate

Female:

• Didelphic-amphidelphic
• Vulva transeverse with strongly sc;erotized lips and sometimes with cuticular flaps

Male:

• Spicules dorylaimoid
• 5-12 ventromdians supplements, spaced

Ref: Andrassy, 2009

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Distribution:

Nematodes of the genus Rhyssocolpus are rather rare, often found in mosses, freshwater habitats or wet soils.

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Feeding:

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Biology and Ecology:

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

Jairajpuri, M.S. and Ahmad, W. 1992, Dorylaimida.  Free-living, Predaceous and Plant-parasitic Nematodes.  E.J. Brill, Leiden 458p.

Pena-Santiago, R. Guerrero, P., Liebana, G., del Carmen Garcia, M., Palomeque, T., Lorite, P. 2015. Characterisation of an Iberian population of Rhyssocolpus iuventutis Andrassy, 1971 (Dorylaimida: Nordiidae), with a revised taxonomy of the genus. Nematology 17:139-153.

Thorne, G. 1939. A monograph of the nematodes of the superfamily Dorylaimoidea. Capita Zool. 8: 1-263.

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Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: June 16, 2023.