Family Mermithidae
Revised
10/05/21
Mermithoidea
Mermithidae Braun, 1883
- A family of nematode parasites mainly of insects.
- Nematodes of the family Mermithidae
are lethal parasites of arthropods, mainly insects.
-
Their hosts include species
of at least 15 different orders of insects (Nickle 1972).
-
Descriptions of many species are not satisfactory and many described species are
considered as species
inquirendae because
the
adult nematodes have not been found and, in many cases, need to be obtained by
laboratory rearing of emerged postparasitic juveniles.
-
Molecular methods are
aiding understanding of the taxonomy of the family (Gradinarov, 2014).
References
Gradinarov, D. 2014. The mermithid species Isomermis lairdi (Nematoda, Mermithidae),
previously only known in Africa, found in Europe. Zookeys 454:1-11.
Nickle WR. (1972) A
contribution to our knowledge of the Mermithidae (Nematoda). Journal
of Nematology 4:
113–146.
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