Oxydirus gangeticus

Oxydirus gangeticus	Contents	Rev 04/11/2023
	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Oxydirus Menu		Ecosystem Functions and Services
	Distribution	Management
Return to Swangeriidae Menu	Feeding	References
	Go to Nemaplex Main Menu	Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Enoplea

Dorylaimia
Dorylaimida

Belondiroidea

Swangeriidae

Oxydirus gangeticus Siddiqi, 1966

Morphology and Anatomy:

Body length 1.3-1.7 mm, body very slender..
Cuticle with fine transverse striations
Lip region narrow and rounded, lips amalgamated.
Odontostyle short, slightly less than 1 x as long as width of lip region.
Odontophore short, slightly expanded at base; guiding ring simple.
Anterior of esophagus narrow and not very muscular; basal section muscular about 45% of total esophagus length.
Esophagus separated from intestine by a tongue-shaped cardia.
Females diovarial, amphidelphic.
Vulva a transverse slit, vagina lacking sclerotized pieces (pars refringens vaginae).
Male not found; no sperm cells seen in female uterus. Infer that species if parthonogentic..
Tail elongate filiform.

Ref. Andrassy, 2009; Botha and Heyns, 1993.

In Oxydirus gangeticus the muscular spiral sheath surrounding the enlarged basal part of the esophagus spirals in a dextral direction (Hechler, 1969).

Female:

Males:

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

Distribution:

Originally described from soil around tree roots on the bank of the Ganges River, India. Also recorded from riverbank soil and sediment on the bank of the Sabi River in South Africa.

Feeding:

Based on observation of green granular material in the intestine (Botha and Heyns, 1993) possibly an algal feeder.

Life Cycle:

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

Ecosystem Functions and Services:

References:

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

Botha, A., Heyns, J. 1993. Species of the genera Oxydirus, Dorylaimellus (Axodorylaimellus), Laimydorus and Rhabdolaimus from rivers in the Kruger National Park (Nematoda: Dorylaimida and Araeolaimida). Koedoe 36:49-60. doi: 10.4102/koedoe.v36i1.361

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

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