Enchodelus Thorne 1939
Creators: name: Goodey, T
Publisher: name: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Year: 1951
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Nematoda
Enoplea
Dorylaimida
Nordiidae
Enchodelus

description: 2. Enchodelus Thorne, 1939   
 Deﬁnition: Tylencholaiminae. Spear lineate with very short aperture, extensions well developed, rod-like or broadly ﬂanged. Guiding ring double, cuticularised. Enlarged portion of oesophagus somewhat shortened, with two conspicuous ventro-submedian nuclei located rather far forward. Ovaries paired in all known species. Males with 7 or more supplements, generally rather closely approximated.   
 Genotype: Enchodelus macrodorus (de Man, 1880) Thorne, 1939 syn. Dorylaimus macrodorus de Man, 1880   
 D. (Doryllium) macrodorus (de Man, 1880) Ditl., 1928   
 Dorylaimellus macrodorus (de Man, 1880) Th. & Swang., 1936   
 Female, 1.6 to 1.93 mm., a =28.6—37; b =4.6—5.3; c = 53 —69; V= 43-46.7 %. Male, 1. 5 mm., a =28; b = 5; c =67 (after Thorne, 1939)   
 Body tapering a little in front and very little behind. Cuticle with very ﬁne transverse striae only visible under oil immersion. Head offset by shallow groove, ﬂatly rounded in front with convex lateral contour. Separate lips not distinguishable, all being fused into head but faint indications of usual complement of head papillae visible. Sunk into structure of lip region is a circlet of short rod-like bodies which appear cuticularised in structure and are more refractive than surrounding lip material. Amphids shaped like open bells, aperture at level of head constriction. Spear axial, about 50 μ long, slender, straight; aperture small, close to tip of dorsal side. Guiding ring about half-way down spear surrounded by a clear area rather like an inverted electric light bulb and really forming two guiding rings; the ﬁrst being at the bottom of the bulb and the second a little further back and connected with the neck of the bulb by a sleevelike tube. Spear extension about 55 μ long, wider than spear and in its posterior half or three-ﬁfths expanded into three ﬂanged swellings. A globose forward extension of the front part of oesophagus surrounds posterior half of the ﬂanges. Anterior half of oesophagus narrow, crossed almost medially by nerve ring; swelling out to form second muscular half. Nuclei of dorsal oesophageal gland easily visible; placed rather far forward, nuclei of two submedian glands also visible. Oesophago-intestinal cells conical. Intestine with yellowish-brown granules. Pre-rectum 5-6 times body width at anus. Rectum about equal to anal body width. Vulva slightly preequatorial, with thickened cuticularised lips. Vagina at right angles to ventral surface, almost half body width in length, walls thick and hyaline. Gonads paired, opposed, reﬂexed. Female tail hemispherical to bluntly conoid, with 3 lateral caudal papillae or pores. Males of this species are rather rare. Thorne (1939) reported ﬁnding one specimen among more than 100 females in a Utah soil. This had dorylaimoid spicules with lateral guiding pieces, tapering distally and there were 12 medic-ventral supplements rather uniformly spaced, three of which were within range of the spicules. Micoletzky (1922) found several males and the supplements varied in number from 6-12. Other species:   
 Enchodelus analatus (Ditl., 1927) Thorne, 1939 syn. Dorylaimellus (Doryllium) analatus (Ditl, 1927) Th. & Swang., 1936   
 E. arcuatus Theme, 1939   
 E. brevicaudatus Thorne, 1939   
 E. conicaudatus (Ditl., 1927) Thorne, 1939 syn. Dorylaimus conicaudatus Ditl., 1927 Dorylaimellus conicaudatus (Ditl., 1927) Th. & Swang., 1936   
 E. dolichurus Loos, 1946   
 E. faeroensis (Ditl., 1928) Thorne, 1939   
 syn. Dorylaimus (Doryllium) faeroensis Ditl., 1928   
 Dorylaimellus faeroensis (Ditl., 1928) Th. & Swang., 1936 E. groenlandìcus (Ditl., 1927) Thorne, 1939   
 syn. Dorylaimellus (Doryllium) groenlandicus Ditl., 1927   
 Dorylaimellus groenlandicus (Ditl., 1927) Th. & Swang., 1936 E. hopedorus (Thorne, 1929) Thorne, 1939   
 syn. Dorylaimellus hopedorus Thorne, 1929   
 E. laevis Thorne, 1939   
 E. macrodoroides (Steiner, 1914) Thorne, 1939   
 syn. Dorylaimus macrodoroídes Steiner, 1914   
 Dorylaimellus macrodoroides (Steiner, 1914) Th. & Swang., 1936 E. minusculus Loos, 1946   
 E. striatus Thorne, 1939   
 E. teres Thorne, 1939   
 E. vesuvianus (Cobb, 1893) Thorne, 1939   
 syn. Dorylaimus vesuvianus Cobb, 1893   
 Dorylaimellus vesuvianus (Cobb, 1893) Th. & Swang., 1936 Bionomics. Species of Enchodelus have been collected from soil about plant roots, from mosses and from stream and lake-side situations. They are widely distributed, having been reported from Europe, North America, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Thorne (1939) considers that they feed entirely on plant material of which green cell-like remains can be recognised in the intestinal contents.
description: Published as part of Goodey, T, 1951, 2. Enchodelus Thorne, 1939, pp. 295-301 in Soil And Freshwater Nematodes, London :Methuen & Co. Ltd. on pages 298-301, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.11196173