Axonchium		Contents		Rev 02/21/2023
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Axonchium Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Belondiridae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Type species of the genus: Axonchium amplicolle Cobb, 1920

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Morphology and Anatomy:

A somewhat heterogeneous group of species that have sometimes been separated into subgenera.

• Body length 1.0 to 3.7 mm.
• Cuticle smooth.
• Amphid fovea generally stirrup shaped.
• Lip region narrow, offset from body contour; lips separate.
• Odontostyle short, usually 0.8-1.4 x lip region width
• Odontophore simple, short, usually < 1.5 x odontostyle. length.
• Esophagus long and slender, the anterior and posterior regions separated by a narrow isthmus.  Posterior region surrounded by a muscular sheath which may be spiral or non-spiral..
• Esophagus separated from intestine by a cardia.
• Females monovarial, opisthodelphic.
• Vulva a transverse or longitudinal slit without sclerotized lips.
• Male with dorylaimoid spicules and separated ventromedian supplements.
• Tail broadly rounded to convex-conoid rounded to almost filiform.

Ref. Andrássy, 2009.

In Axonchium gigas the muscle bands comprising the sheath around the basal part of the esophagus spiral dextrally, but in the other species of Axonchium they do not spiral but lie parallel to the esophagus (Hechler, 1969). Consequently, Hechler emended the definition of Axonchium (Cobb, 1920) to include species with both a spiral and a non-spiral sheath.

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Distribution:

Worldwide, recorded from all continents except Antarctica.  Predominantly soil nematodes but some species occur in aquatic habitats.

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Feeding:

  Classified as plant feeders and possibly omnivores (Yeates et al., 1993).   

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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.

Hechler, H.C. 1969. Variability of the Basal Esophageal Sheath in Belondirid Nematodes. Journal of Nematology 1:160-165.

Kumar, S., Ahmad, W. 2023. Six new and four known species of the genus Axonchium Cobb, 1920 (Nematoda: Dorylaimida: Belondiroidea) from the Western Ghats of India. European J. Taxonomy 857:1-65. doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2023.857.2039

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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Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: February 21, 2023.