Microtetrameres		Contents		Rev: 10/15/2026
		Classification		Biology and Ecology
		Morphology and Anatomy		Life Cycle
Return to Microtetrameres Menu				Ecosystem Functions and Services
		Distribution		Management
Return to Tetrameridae Menu		Feeding		References
		Go to Nemaplex Main Menu		Go to Dictionary of Terminology

Classification:

Chromadorea

  Chromadoria

   Rhabditida

Spirurina

              Habronematoidea

               Tetrameridae

  Tetramerinae

Microtetrameres Travassos, 1915

Type species of the genus: Microtetrameres cloacitectus Oschmarin, 1956

    Synonyms:

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Morphology and Anatomy:

Extreme sexual dimorphism: females swollen and spirally coiled, males vermiform.

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Distribution:

Cosmopolitan distribution. Parasitism by Microtetrameres spp. is especially prevalent in terrestrial birds (Kinsella and Forrester, 2008).

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Feeding:

Food Sources and Feeding strategies for the genus Microtetrameres

Parasites of the proventriculus of domestic and wild birds

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Biology and Ecology:

The term tetrameridosis is applied to diseases of wild and domestic birds caused by nematodes of the genera Tetrameres, Microtetrameres and Geopetitia (family Tetrameridae).

Females of Tetrameres and Microtetrameres are typically found embedded in the gastric glands of the proventriculus of bird hosts. One or more males (which are much slaller than females) may be associated with the females in the glands or free in the lumen of the proventriculus (Kinsella and Forrester, 2008).

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Life Cycle:

Life cycle indirect; embryonated eggs are passed in the feces and ingested by intermediate  hosts. The definitive hosts are mainly terrestrial and intermediate hosts are usually arthropods, including beetles, Orthoptera and cockroaches.. 

In typical terestrial life cycles, the juvenile nematodes develop to the infectiv J3 stage in the intermediate host.  They are passed to the definitive host when the the intermediate host is ingested by the bird (Kinsella and Forrester, 2008).

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Ecosystem Functions and Services:

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Management:

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References:

Anderson R.C. 2000. Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates: Their Development and Transmission. CABI Publishing; Wallingford, UK:

Creplin, F.C.H. 1846. Nachtrage su Gurlt'sVerzeichnissder Thiere, bei welchen Entozoen gefunden worden sind. Arch. Naturgesch, 12:129-160.

Diesing, K. M. 1835. Tropisurus und Thysanosoma, zwey neue gattungen von Binnenwurmen (Entozoen) aus Brasilien. Med. Jahrb. Osterr. St., 7:83-116.

Diesing, K.M. 1851. Systema helminthum. Apud Wilhelmum Braumuller, Vindobonae, 2:vi+l-558.

Kinsella, J.M. and Forrester, D.J. 2008. Tetrameridosis. Chapter 21 in Atkinson, C.T., Thomas, N.J., Hunter, D.B. Parasitic Diseases of Wild Birds. Wiley-Blackwell/

Mollhagen, T.R. 1991. A study of the parasituic nematode genus Tetrameres. I. The literature 1835-1985. Special Publications, The Museum, Texas Tech University No. 35.

Mollhagen, T.R. 1976. A study on the systematics and hosts of the parasitic nematode genus Tetrameres (Habrenematoidea: Tetrameridae). PhD. Dissertaion, Zoology, Texas Tech University.

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Revised by Howard Ferris: October 15, 2026.