Family PARASITAPHELENCHIDAE Ruehm, 1956 (Siddiqi, 1980)

Museums

Museum list

Regional Maps

Family PARASITAPHELENCHIDAE Ruehm, 1956 (Siddiqi, 1980)

Introduction

A large family, dominated by the genus Bursaphelenchus. It is characterised by short stylets with the conus and shaft of similar length and having small to large basal swellings and narrow lumen, stout to very slender vermiform females with functional anus and rectum but tail of variable length, males with or without a rudimentary bursa. Males and females are the only adult forms.

All known species are various combinations of one or more of the following: ectophoretic or endophoretic on insects, phytoparasitic on palms or conifers, endoparasitic on insects, or free-living mycetophagous.

Duration of the life cycle often depends on that of the host insect, but in mycetophagous phases my range from 5 to 30 days. Reproduction is amphimictic.

Two species are major economic pathogens of plants, and several others may be pathogens with limited distribution or effects which occur under certain circumstances. Many species have limited distributions and limited effects, but a few have very wide distributions and may be part of species complexes. Some endoparasitic members of the family have been shown to affect the host (Tomalaket al.1984; Lieutier 1984, 1985; Lieutier et al. 1985), but most seem to have no effect (Hunt & Hague 1974). Ectophoretic and endophoretic species seem to have no effect on the vector.