Family Kathlaniidae

                                 Revised 01/16/26

Classification:

Phylum Nematoda

  Class Chromadorea

        Subclass Chromadoria

     Order Rhabditida

       Suborder Spirurina

        Superfamily Cosmocercoidea

Kathlaniidae Travassos, 1918

A family of nematodes that are mainly parasites of lizards, turtles and other reptiles, also of mammals. In some cases, fish identified as paratenic hosts.

In the family, nine genera parasitize different groups of hosts:

• Kathlania Lane, 1914 are parasites of marine turtles,

• Tonaudia Travassos, 1918  are parasites of marine turtles and selachians,

• Chabaudinema Díaz-Ungría, 1968 are parasites of Neotropical fish,

• Falcaustra are parasites of fish, amphibians and reptiles,

• Megalobatrachonema Yamaguti, 1941 are parasites of anurans and urodeles,

• Amblyonema Linstow, 1898  are parasites of Australian ceratodiform fish,

• Cissophyllus Raillet et Henry, 1922 are parasites of herbivorous reptiles,

• Urodelnema Baker, 1981 are parasites of salamanders,

• Myleusnema Moravec et Thatcher, 1996  are parasites of characoid freshwater fish (Chabaud 2009, Gibbons 2010;  Gonzalez et al., 2013)

Characteristics:

• Esophageal isthmus not elongated, generally spherical.

• Male with one to several pre-anal suckers

    Go To Dictionary of Terminology 

References

Anderson, R.C., Chabaud, A.G., Willmott, S.  1978. CIH Keys to the Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates. Eds Anderson, R.C., Chabaud, A.G., Willmott, S. CAB

Chabaud A.G. 2009. Ascaridida: Cosmocercoidea, Seuratoidea and Heterakoidea. In: Anderson R.C., Chabaud A.G. and Willmott S. Keys to the Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates. Wallingford, CABI, 248–308.

Gibbons L.M. 2010. Keys to the Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates. Supplementary Volume. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxford, UK, 416 pp.

Gonzalez, C.E., Sanabria, E.A., Quiroga, L.B. 2013. Falcaustra sanjuanensis sp. nov. (Nematoda: Kathlaniidae) from Odontophrynus cf. barrioi (Anura: Cycloramphidae) from Argentina... Acta Parasitologica 58:119-125.

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