Family Cephalobidae

                                 Rev 10/02/2012

Classification:

      Chromadorea
       Chromadoria
       Rhabditida
        Tylenchina
         Cephaloboidea
          Cephalobidae Filpijev, 1934

Morphology and Anatomy:

• Stoma distinctly jointed; cheilorhabdion wide, rest of stoma narrower.  
• Lip region with probolae
• Stegostom (pharyngeal collar) long

• Scanning electron micrographs of the lip region of females of Cephalobidae (A) Eucephalobus sp. (B) Pseudacrobeles sp. (C) Zeldia punctata (D) Zeldia sp. (E) Acromoldavicus mojavicus (F) Nothacrobeles borregi (G) Cervidellus doorsselaeri (H) Cervidellus alutus (I) Acrobeles sp. Photograph from Nadler et al., 2006

• Esophagus with cylindrical procorpus, isthmus barely seen, basal bulb with a valve. 
• Female gonad prodelphic, reflexed down body, usually with an additional double flexure towards the end of the ovary. Spermatheca usually offset.
• Vulva far from anus.
• Bursa absent in males.

Key to subfamilies:
       1. Only cheilorhabdions wider than other parts of stoma                                         Cephalobinae
       2. Cephalic probolae shorter than labial probolae                                                    Acrobelinae
       3. Cephalic probolae large, paddle-shaped, longer than labial probolae.                   Kirjanoviinae
       4. Cheilo- and protostom wider and  the wall more cuticularized than other parts.     Panagrocephalinae
                                     

References

Nadler, S.A., DeLey, P.,Mundo-Ocampo, M., Smythe, A.B.,Stock, S.P., Bumbarger, D., Adams, B.J., Tandingan De Ley, I., Holovachov, O., Baldwin, J.G. 2006. Phylogeny of Cephalobina (Nematoda): Molecular evidence for recurrent evolution of probolae and incongruence with traditional classifications. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 40: 696-711.

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