Subfamily BELONOLAIMINAE

Chromadorea

Chromadoria
         Rhabditida
         Rhabditia

 Tylenchina

        Tylenchoidea
         Dolichodoridae
          Belonolaiminae
   

Morphology and Anatomy:

• Body vermiform, 1-3mm long
• Lip region offset; high, rounded, oval or slightly flattened. 
• Cephalic framework usually with four lobes.
• Amphid apertures dorsoventral slits located at the edge of the labial disc. 
• Lateral field with one, two to four lines; areolated. 
• Body cuticle sometimes with longitudinal ridges.
• Stylet very long (60-150μm. 
• Esophagus usually with a slender procorpus, rounded metacorpus, slim isthmus and a glandular postcorpus overlapping intestine, usually laterally. 
• Female tail cylindroid to conoid, more than twice as long as wide, often with thick terminal cuticle, never elongate filiform (typically c' = 2 to 5). 
• Phasmids always confined to the tail region. 
• Females with two genital branches. 
• Male caudal alae peloderan (enclosing tail). 
• Deirids present or absent. 
• Obligate root parasites, generally migratory ectoparasites, but some taxa may be capable of feeding as endoparasites.
       

References:

Fortuner & Luc, Rev. Nematol. 10:183-202 (1987)

Geraert, E. 2011.  The Dolichodoridae of the World.  Academia Press, Gent Belgium. 520p.

H. Ferris

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