Anoplostoma		Contents		Rev: 08/26/2026
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Anoplostoma Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Anoplostomatidae Menu		Feeding		References
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Classification:

Enoplea

  Enoplia
        Enoplida

            Enoplina

                Enoploidea

                   Anoplostomatidae

Anoplostomatinae

Anoplostoma Butschli, 1874

Type species of the genus: Anoplostoma viviparum (Bastian, 1865) Butschli, 1874

    Synonyms:

Sympocostoma viviparum Bastian, 1865

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Morphology and Anatomy:

• Three lips, each with short inner and outer labial sensilla.
• Six longer outer labial setae and four cephalic setae in separate rings around head region.
• Large, toothless, cylindrical buccal cavity surounded in the posterior region by esophageal tissue
• Amphidial fovea pocket-shaped, posterior to buccal cavity.
• Esophagus muscular throughout length, esophageal gland openings just posterior to buccal cavity.
• Males diorchic, testes ourstretched.
• Male bursa with posterior spines; bursa surrounds cloaca; postcloacal spine present.
• Females didelphic, ovaries reflexed, on laft side of intestine.
• Tail anteriorly conical, becoming long and flagellum-like posteriorly.

Species of the genus are morpholgically quite similar and separated principally by morphometric chracteristics.

Ref: Tchesunov and Thanh, 2010; Smol et al., 2014; Huang and Guo, 2022

Anoplostoma spp, examples of male head and posterior regions. Drawings from Tchesunov and Thanh, 2020	Anoplostoma tumidum: female anterior and buccal cavity. Scale bar = 10 um Photomicrograph from Li and Guo, 2016

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Distribution:

Free-living marine nematodes.  Several species described from intertidal mud sediments associated with mangroves (e.g. A. nhatrangensis, A. paraviviparum, A. tumidum).

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Feeding:

Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Anoplostoma

Ingestion of microbes in sediment

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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:

Bastian, H.C. 1865. Monograph on the Anguillulidae, or free nematoids, marine, land and freshwater; with descriptions of 100 new species.  Trans. Linn. Soc. London 25:73-184.

Butschli, O. 1874. Zur Kenntnis der freilebenden Nematoden, , insbesondere der des Kieler Hafens. Abhandlungen der Senchenbergischen Naturforschen Geselischaft Bd. 9. S.236-292,

Coomans, A., Vincx, M., Decraemer, W. 1985. Nematodes from a fresh-water pool on a coral island in the Solomon Islands. Hydrobiologia 123:265-281.

Huang, Y. and Guo, Y. 2022, Free-living Marine Nematodes from the East China Sea, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3836-7_10

Smol, N., Muthumbi, A., Sharma, J. 2014. Order Enoplida, 7.3. In Schmidt-Rhaesa, A. (ed) Handbook of Zoology. De Gruyter, Berlin

Tchesunov, A.V. and Thanh, N.V. 2010. A. desription of Anoplostoma nhatrangensis sp.n. from magrove habitatas of Nha Trang, Central Vietnam, with a review of the genus Anoplostoma Butschli, 1874 (Nematoda: Enoplida). Invert. Zool. 7:93-105.

Li, Y., Guo, Y. 2016. Two New Free-Living Marine Nematode Species of the Genus Anoplostoma (Anoplostomatidae) from the Mangrove Habitats of Xiamen Bay, East China Sea. J. Ocean Univ. China DOI 10.1007/s11802-016-2896-x

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Revised by Howard Ferris.
Revised: August 26, 2026.