Pheromermis		Contents		Rev: 09/08/2026
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Pheromermis Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Mermithidae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Type species of the genus: Pheromermis pachysoma (Von Linstow, 1905) Poinar, Lane & Thomas, 1976

    Synonyms:

Back to Top

Morphology and Anatomy:

Female:

Male:

Back to Top

Distribution:

Species of Pheromermis are mainly reported from North America.

Back to Top

Feeding:

Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Pheromermis

Predators of ants and wasps; endoparasites of yellowjacket wasps (Vespula pensylvanica).

Back to Top

Biology and Ecology:

Back to Top

Life Cycle:

• Pheromermis spp. have a paratenic life cycle whereby they use aquatic or semiaquatic insects as intermediate, non-developmental hosts to gain access to their primary ant or wasp hosts through predation of the paratenic host by the definitive hosts..

Back to Top

Ecosystem Functions and Services:

Potential for biological control of aquatic insect pests (Kumar et al., 2023,

Back to Top

Management:

Back to Top

References:

Tripodi, A.D. and Strange, J.P. 2018. Rarely reported, widely distributed, and unexpectedly diverse: molecular characterization of mermithid nematodes (Nematoda: Mermithidae) infecting bumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) in the USA. Parasitology 145, 1558–1563. https:// doi.org/10.1017/S0031182018000410

Return to Pheromermis Menu

Go to Nemaplex Main Menu

Back to Top

Revised by Howard Ferris: September 08, 2026.