Family Hystrignathidae

                                 Revised 01/16/26

Classification:

Phylum Nematoda

  Class Chromadorea

    Subclass Chromadoria

Rhabditida

                  Hystrignathidae Travassos, 1920

Type genus of the family: Hystrignathus Leidy, 1850

• The superfamily Thelastomatoidea is comprised of nematode species that parasitize arthropods.
• The Hystrignathidae is a family of nematodes that are intestinal parasites of insects, especially Coleoptera, and particularly passalid beetles (bess beetles).
• Approximately 100 species have been described,  mainly distributed in North and South America, Africa, and Australia (Adamson & Van Waerebeke 1992;

• The family Hystrignathidae is characterised by three features:
  •  an esophagus supported anteriorly by cuticularised rods
  •  elongate eggs often with shells ornamented by ridges of excresences
  •  presence of at least one median single papilla in males
• Parasitic in the intestine of passalid beetles.
• Approximatelu 100 species have been described,  mainly distributed in North and South America, Africa, and Australia (Adamson & Van Waerebeke 1992; Zhang and Zhang, 2022).
•  Most genera are known only on the basis of females, and are distinguished by being monodelphic or didelphic, the arrangement of cervical cuticular spines and the arrangement of the first few cuticular annules,the circumoral and cephalic annules .

Some of the characters are generally not considered very reliable for distinguishing genera.

    Go To Dictionary of Terminology 

References

Adamson, M.L. and Van Waerebeke, D. 1992. Revision of the Thelastomatoidea, Oxyurida of invertebrate hosts III . Hystrignathidae. Systematic Parasitology 22:111-130

Zhang, N., Zhang, L. 2022. Three new genera, two new species and one new combination of family Hystrignathidae (Nematoda: Thelastomatoidea) from Ceracupes fronticornis (Westwood) (Insecta: Passalidae) in China. Research Square: DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1637079/v1

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