Axonchoides smokyensis

Axonchoides smokyensis	Contents	Rev 01/21/2020
	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:

Enoplea

Dorylaimia
Dorylaimida

Belondiridae

Belondirinae

Axonchoides smokyensis Pena-Santiago, Abolafia, Alvarez-Ortega, Ye & Robbins 2013

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 2.5-3.2 mm, body very slender..
Cuticle smooth under LM but fine strae apparent with SEM..
Lip region narrow and rounded, not offset from body contour; lips fused distally but separated at the base by deep grooves.
Cervical lacunae present.
Odontostyle short, 1-1.2 x as long as width of lip region, with aperture about 25% 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 totalle 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.

Female:

Males:

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

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Distribution:

Species described from soil in mixed forest, Great Smoky National Park, Sevier County, Tennessee, USA.

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Feeding:

Feeding habits of Axonchoides uncertain; Axonchium is classified as a plant feeder and possibly omnivore (Yeates et al., 1993). However, that designation, while it might apply to some genera of the Belondiridae, seems unlikely for all genera and species of the nominal family.

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Biology and Ecology:

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Life Cycle:

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

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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., Abolafia, J., Alvarez-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

Axonchoides smokyensis

Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris. Revised: January 21, 2020.

Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: January 21, 2020.