Durikainema macropi

Durikainema macropi	Contents	Rev: 12/27/2023
	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Durikainema Menu	Economic Importance	Ecosystem Functions and Services
	Distribution	Management
Return to Robertdollfusidae Menu	Feeding	References
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Classification:

Type species of the genus

    Synonyms:

Morphology and Anatomy:

Short slender nematodes; male shorter and narrower than female.
Cuticle thin with fine transverse striations; bacillary bands absent.
Cephalic end with large cuticular inflation and elongate papillae or bristles. Four pairs elongate submedian papillae/bristles, internolateral cephalic one of each pair longer and broader than externolabial ones of respective pairs. Two small elongate lateral extemolabial papillae/bristles.
Amphids large, oval, located at level of bases of submedian papillae/bristles,
Oral opening absent; six minute elongate possibily fused lip-like structures surrounding central core of tissue; core with central depression distally, increasing in diameter proximally. Buccal capsule absent.
Esophagus atrophied; often three strands of tissue. Trophosome not observed.
Atrophied intestine containing some nuclei present in tail region of female near proximal extremity of posterior ovary; rectum indefinite, anus absent.
Nerve ring, dorsal and ventral nerve chords, phasmids, excretory cells, vesicle or pore indistinct.
Body musculature a single muscle cell per quadrant with numerous contractile elements and large nucleus with prominent nucleolus.;

Females:

Vulva about mid-body.
Genital apparatus of early gravid females clearly amphidelphic with two ovaries, oviducts and uteri.
In gravid females, vagina and vulva possibly non-functional; ovaries and oviducts degenerate; system reduced to a uterine pouch filled with more than 200 larvae
Postcephalic cuticle and hypodermal musculature thin in gravid females; larvae possibly released by rupturing or penetrating region immediately posterior to head of female

Males:

Single spicule 21 um long, bifid proximally.
Gubemaculum absent. Single median pre-anal papilla; five median post-anal papillae, one immediately post-anal, four closer to tail tip and arranged in tandem in two groups of two.
Tail 118 um long, tapering to gently rounded tip.

ref: Spratt and Speare, 1982

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

Distribution:

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

Feeding:

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.

Biology and Ecology:

Individuals of Durikainema macropi 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.

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).

Ecophysiological Parameters:

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

Ecosystem Functions and Services:

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.