Dorylaimopsinae De Coninck, 1965

Leduc, Daniel, 2012, Deep-sea nematodes (Comesomatidae) from the Southwest Pacific Ocean: five new species and three new species records, European Journal of Taxonomy 24, pp. 1-42 : 19

Subfamily Dorylaimopsinae De Coninck, 1965

Diagnosis (modified from Jensen (1979))

Cuticle usually differentiated laterally. Cephalic sense organs in three distinctly separated crowns. Buccal cavity usually strongly cuticularised; anterior portion shallow, sometimes with small pointed projections at border with vestibulum; posterior portion dilated, cylindrical or conical, usually with strongly cuticularised walls and three thornlike projections (teeth) at the border between the two portions. Spicules sometimes differentiated proximally, medially or distally. Gubernacular apophyses usually directed caudally, occasionally dorsocaudally.

Type genus

Dorylaimopsis Ditlevsen, 1918

Remarks

The genus Dorylaimopsis is similar in many respects to the genus Hopperia , but can be distinguished from the latter by the presence of longitudinal rows of dots as opposed to larger, irregularly-distributed dots in the lateral fields (sometimes arranged in transverse rows) in Hopperia . There are two exceptions: (1) some specimens of H. communis Gagarin & Thanh, 2006 have irregularly distributed dots in the lateral fields, and (2) D. metatypica Chitwood, 1936 is characterised by irregularly-spaced dots instead of longitudial rows. The two genera also tend to differ in the shape of the spicules: arcuate in Hopperia , whilst in Dorylaimopsis spicules may be arcuate ( D. coomansi Muthumbi et al., 1997 ), jointed ( D. perfecta Cobb, 1920 ), or with lateral projections ( D. punctata Ditlevsen, 1918 ). In addition, species of the genus Dorylaimopsis are characterised by conico-cylindrical tail with (usually) swollen tip, whilst tail shape in Hopperia can be conico-cylindrical with swollen ( H. americana Pastor de Ward, 1984 ), filiform ( H. massiliensis Vitiello, 1969 ), or pointed tip ( H. australis Jensen, 1992 ).