Revised 01/26/26
Phylum Nematoda
Class Enoplea
Subclass Enoplia
Order Enoplida
Suborder Trefusiina
Duperfamily Trefusoidea
Simpliconematidae Blome & Schrage, 1985
The family Simpliconematidae comprises a single genus of free-living marine nematodes with a single species, Simpliconema aenigmatoides, described from a single male specimen by Blome and Schrage (1985)..
The family was placed within the Trefusiida by Lorenzen (1981, 1994) based on the presence of three lips, the pharyngeal glands seemingly opening in the frontal part of the pharynx, the absence of metanemes and having secretory-excretory gland located in the pharyngeal region. Lorenzen (1981, 1994), however, also noted similarities with the genus Linhystera Juario, 1974, family Xyalidae Chitwood, 1951, order Monhysterida Filipjev, 1929, in the arrangement of cephalic sensilla, amphid shape, location of secretory-excretory gland and single anterior testis to the left of the intestine (Leduc et al., 2020).
Family Diagnosis (from Blome & Schrage 1985 per Leduc et al., 2020):
Cuticle striated. Labial region divided into three lips. Cephalic sensilla with 6 +10 arrangement; setose outer labial and cephalic sensilla. Circular amphideal fovea. Male reproductive system monorchic with anterior testis to the left of the intestine; sperm cell drop-shaped. Spicules slender, elongated; gubernaculum absent. Tail filiform. Females not known.
Blome D. & Schrage M. 1985. Freilebende Nematoden aus der Antarktis: Mit einer Beschreibung der Simpliconematidae nov. fam. (Trefusiida) und einer Revision von Filipjeva Ditlevsen, 1928 (Monhysterida, Xyalidae). Veröffenlichungen des Instituts für Meeresforschung in Bremerhaven 21: 71-96.
-Golden, A.M. and D.G. Murphy, 1967. Encholaimoidea (Nematoda: Dorylaimida), a new superfamily representing dorylaimid specimens with cephalic setae. Proc. Helmith Soc Washington. 34:94-98
Hodda, M. 2011. Phylum Nematoda Cobb 1932. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa 3148.
Ingels, J. Hauquier, F., Raes, M., Vanreusel, A. 2014, Antarctic gree-living nematodes. Chapter v5.3 in De Bruyer, C, and Koubbi, P. (eds) Biographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. SCAR Marine Biodiversity Information Network.
Leduc, D., Zhao, Z.Q. , Simmiger, F. 2020. Halanonchus scintillatulus sp. nov. from New Zealand and a review of the suborder Trefusiina (Nematoda: Enoplida). Eur. J. Taxonomy 661:1-45.
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