Pneumoatractis podocnemis

Pneumoatractis podocnemis	Contents	Rev 01/07/2026
	Classification	Biology and Ecology
	Morphology and Anatomy	Life Cycle
Return to Pneumoatractis Menu		Ecosystem Functions and Services
	Distribution	Management
Return to Atractidae Menu	Feeding	References
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Cosmocercoidea

Atractidae

Pneumoatractis podocnemis Bursey, Reavill & Greiner, 2009

Morphology and Anatomy:

Small, white nematodes; cuticle with fine transverse striations. Body elongate, with slender, fine-pointed tail.
Mouth with 3 distinct lips: 1 dorsal, 2 sublateral; dorsal lip bearing 2 papillae, each sublateral lip with 1 papilla and 1 amphid.
Short conical cavity at base of lips leading into esophagus.
Esophagus with anterior inflated muscular corpus, and posterior isthmus ending in well-developed valvular bulb.
Nerve ring at junction of corpus and isthmus.
Excretory pore large, posterior to esophageal bulb.
Anterior half of intestine straight, narrow; posterior half of intestine with scalloped outline; rectum a simple tube.
Narrow lateral alae present in both males and females.



Males: Spicules lanceolate, unequal length; Gubernaculum present.	Female: Monodelphic Vulva opens slightly anterior to anus; Viviparous. Ref: Bursey et al., 2009
Reported median body size for this species (Length mm; width micrometers; weight micrograms) - Click:

Described from the lungs of the yellow-spotted Amazon River turtle (Podocnemis unifilis). described from a yellow-spotted Amazon River turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) that died at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois after being confiscated from an illegal shipment of wild-caught turtles from South America. A rod-shaped bacteriom in tissue sections of the turtle was interpreted as the cause of death (Bursey et al., 2009).

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Feeding:

Paraite of the pulmonary syatem of a river turtle.

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Biology and Ecology:

The turtle host died at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois after being confiscated from an illegal shipment of wild-caught turtles from South America. A rod-shaped bacteriom in tissue sections of the turtle was interpreted as the cause of death (Bursey et al., 2009).

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Life Cycle:

Ecophysiological Parameters:

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