Durikainema		Contents		Rev: 06/03/2025
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Durikainema Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Robertdollfusidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Enoplea

Dorylaimia

Muspiceida

Muspiceina

Muspiceoidea

                         Robertdollfusidae

Durikainema Spratt & Speare, 1982

   Type species of the genus: Durikainema macropi  Spratt & Speare, 1982

    Synonyms:    

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Morphology and Anatomy:

• Short slender nematodes; male shorter and narrower than female.
• Cuticle thin with fine transverse striations; bacillary bands absent.
•  Well-developed elongate cephalic papillae or bristles, well-developed amphids, pronounced cephalic cuticular inflation.
• Mouth, buccal capsule, esophagus and anus absent;
• Iintestine and rectum atrophied.
• Muscle arrangement pattern platymyarian, meromyarian with contratile regions close to the hypodermis.

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Distribution:

Described from the mesenteric and hepatic portal veins of the kangaroos Macropus giganteus, M. agilis and M. rufogriseus from Queensland, Australia.

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Feeding:

Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Durikainema

Nematode parasites of blood vessels of macropodid marsupials.  Lacking a mouth and with atrophied esophagus and intestine, resource uptake must be by diffusion through body wall.

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Biology and Ecology:

Nematodes of the type species have been found ithe follwowing locations in kanagaroos:

• non-peripheral blood of male and females of Macropus. giganteus,
• Lactating mammary glands of female M. agilis, but not the non-lactating glands of the same female
• in the deep capillaries of thigh skin of male M. agilis. 

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Life Cycle:

Transmission of the parasite among hosts may be direct through a percutaneous or milk route, or indirect by a blood-sucking arthropod. (Spratt and Speare, 1982).

Amphimictic reproduction (Spratt et al., 1999).

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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

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Management:

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References:

Spratt, D.M 2013. Muspiceida. In Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa (Ed) Nematoda

Spratt, D.M. and Speare, R. 1982. Durikainema macropi gen. et sp. nov. (Muspiceoidea : Robertdollfusidae), A remarkable nematode from Macropodidae (Marsupialia). Ann. Parasitol. 57:53-62.

Spratt, D.M., Beveridge, I., Andrews, J.R.H., and Dennett, X. 1999. Haycocknema perplexum n.g. n.sp. (Nematoda: Robertdollfusidae) an intramyofibre parasite in man. Systematic Parasitology 43:123-131.

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Copyright © 1999 by Howard Ferris.
Revised: June 03, 2025.