Axonchoides		Contents		Rev 02/14/2023
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Axonchoides Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Belondiridae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Thorne distinguished the genus Axonchoides from Axonchium Cobb, 1920 by the semisclerotized labial framework, mammiform cephalic papillae, the non-muscular nature of the anterior esophagus and the supplements in males not protruding above the body contour (Pena-Santiago et al., 2013).

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Morphology and Anatomy:

• Body length 2.5-3.5 mm.
• The semi-sclerotized lip region described by Thorne (1967) is not apparent in more recent studies.
• Cuticle smooth.
• Lip region narrow and rounded, not offset from body contour; lips separate.
• Odontostyle short, about as long as width of lip region, with aperture 25-33% of its length.
• Odontophore about 1.5 x length of odontostyle, slightly thickened in the middle; guiding ring simple.
• Anterior of esophagus narrow and not very muscular; basal section muscular and surrounded by a muscular sheath, about 2/3 of total esophagus length.
• Esophagus separated from intestine by a long cardia.
• Females monovarial, opisthodelphic, gonad with a long non-functional anterior branch..
• Vulva a transverse slit, vagina lacking sclerotized pieces (pars refringens vaginae).
• Male with dorylaimoid spicules and 5 or 6 well-separated ventromedian supplements.
• Tail broadly rounded in both sexes

Ref. Andrassy, 2009; Pena-Santiago et al, 2013.

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Distribution:

Very rare genus. Originally described by Thorne (1967) from El Yunque Mountains, Puerto Rico.

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Feeding:

  Feeding habits of Axonchoides uncertain; Axonchium is classified as a plant feeder and possibly omnivore (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. .

Pena-Santiago, R. 2021. Dorylaimida Mundi (Nematoda); checklist of genera and species, with their records. UJA Editorial. 957p.

Pena-Santiago, R., Abolafia, J., Alvárez-Ortega, S., Ye, W., Robbins, R.T. 2013. Axonchoides smokyensis sp.n. (Dorylaimida: Belondiridae) from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: the second species of a very rare genus. Nematology 15: 679-693.

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 14, 2023.