Family Microlaimidae

Revised 10/28/22

Chromadorea

Chromadoria

Desmodorida

Spirinoidea

 Microlaimidae Micoletzky, 1922          

A family consisting mainly of marine nematodes; a few soil-inhabiting species.            
            

• Cuticle with striations, often smooth ate anterior end,  withut lateral fields.
• Head with cap or cephalic helmet
• Cepalic sensillae in 3 distinct circles,(6,6,4) with the four cephalic setae short.
• Amphids circular or unispiral, near base of stoma.
• Stoma simple, funnel-shaped, with denticles.
• Esophagus cylindrical; muscular, sometimes ending in a terminal bulb.
• Females diovarial with ovaries outstretched.
• Males less common than females, without supplements
• Tail elongate conoid with caudal glands and terminal spinneret.
• Mainly marine nematodes; a few soil-inhabiting species.

The family Microlaimidae is often one of the most abundant groups of free-living nematodes in the benthos from shallow to deep-sea habitats.  They have been found to depths of  7800 m in the southern  Pacific Ocean (Revkova, 2017).

References:

Kovalyev, S.V. & Tchesunov, A.V. 2005. Taxonomic review of microlaimids with description of five species from the White Sea (Nematoda: Chromadoria). Zoosystematica Rossica, 14: 1-16.

Revkova, T.N. 2017. Two new species of free-living nematodes genera Microlaimus de Man, 1880 and Aponema Jensen, 1978 (Nematoda: Microlaimidae) from the Black Sea. Zootaxa 4344:387-394.
            

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