Paralinhomoeus de Man, 1907

Ansari, Kapuli Gani Mohamed Thameemul, Lyla, Somasundharanair & Khan, Seyd Ajmal, 2018, New distributional records of free-living marine Nematodes from Indian waters IV. Linhomids and Axanolaimids, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 118 (4) : -

Genus Paralinhomoeus de Man, 1907

4. Species Paralinhomoeus uniovarium Warwick, 1970

Material examined: Single male collected from Karaikal 30-50m depth (20.12.2008) .

de Man ratio: a b c

Male: 50.69 8.19 12.48

Description: Body length 1.7mm. Maximum diameter 33µm. Cuticle striations begin at the level of the amphids. Six small conical labial setae. Six short (11-15µm) and four long (16-21µm) cephalic setae. Lateral subcephalic setae situated just posterior to lateral cephalic setae. A few scattered somatic setae in cervical and tail regions. Circular amphids (13-19µm). Buccal cavity cup-shaped and weakly cuticularised. Oesophagus slightly swollen at its posterior end (202µm).Tail conico-cylindrical (3.7a.b.d.). Spicules 26µm as curve, strongly arcuate. Gubernaculum roughly triangular with a pair of weekly cuticularised dorsal apophysis ( Figure 4 ).

Female: Not found

Feeding type: The specimen showed large buccal cavity that is not armed with teeth. According to the classification of buccal cavity by Wieser (1953), this species is a nonselective feeder (1B).

Habitat: Sandy sediments.

Distribution: India: Karaikal. Elsewhere: England ( Warwick et al., 1998); European waters ( De Smet et al., 2001) and English Channel ( Hansson, 1998).

Remarks: The specimens examined conformed well to the earlier description of Warwick et al., (1998) except for the smaller body size. The total body length described was

2.1-2.8mm and tail length 7.9a.b.d. The body length of the specimen studied at present was found smaller being

1.7mm and the tail length 3.7a.b.d. This is the first record of the species from the Indian waters.

Suborder ARAEOLAIMINA de Coninck, 1965 Superfamily AXONOLAIMOIDEA de Coninck & Schuurmans Stekhoven, 1933 (Chitwood, 1937)

Family AXONOLAIMIDAE de Coninck & Schuurmans Stekhoven, 1933

Figures

Figure 4. Paralinhomoeus uniovarium Warwick, 1970 a) entire male, b) male head, c) male tail.