The Enoplia are a subclass of
nematodes in the class
Enoplea
Enoplea (enopleans) is a class, which with the classes SecernenteaTree of Life Web Project (ToL) (2002)Nematoda Version of January 1, 2002. Retrieved November 2, 2008. and Chromadorea make up the phylum Nematoda in current taxonomy. The Enople ...
.
Description
Enoplians are characterized by
amphid Amphids (Greek: ''amphi'', around, double) are innervated invaginations of cuticle in nematodes. They are usually found in the anterior (head) region of the animal, at the base of the lips. Amphids are the principal olfactosensory organs of nematod ...
s shaped like ovals,
stirrups, or pouches. Their bodies are smooth, without rings or lines. The
esophagus
The esophagus ( American English) or oesophagus (British English; both ), non-technically known also as the food pipe or gullet, is an organ in vertebrates through which food passes, aided by peristaltic contractions, from the pharynx to ...
is cylindrical and glandular.
[Subclass Enoplia.]
Nemaplex: Nematode-Plant Expert Information System. University of California, Davis. Version July 26, 2012.
Taxonomy
Lorenzen described two
orders, Enoplida and Trefusiida, in the 1980s based on morphology. With the advent of
phylogenetic analysis
In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...
, a reorganisation has been necessary, moving the Triplonchida here to create three orders and expanding it.
[Phylum Nematoda.]
Nematode Classification. Department of Nematology. University of California, Riverside.
The orders are distinguished mainly by habitat type.Enoplida
Enoplida is an order of nematodes. It is one of two orders in Enoplia, which is one of two subclasses in Class Enoplea. Filipjev, 1929 – nematodes of marine and brackish water
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
habitat, carnivorous or feed on diatoms and other algaes
* Triplonchida Cobb, 1920 – terrestrial nematodes, including some plant parasites
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
* Trefusiida Lorenzen, 1981
References
Bibliography
*
*
*De Ley, P & Blaxter, M 2004, 'A new system for Nematoda: combining morphological characters with molecular trees, and translating clades into ranks and taxa'. in R Cook & DJ Hunt (eds), Nematology Monographs and Perspectives. vol. 2, E.J. Brill, Leiden, pp. 633–653.
Protostome subclasses
{{Enoplea-stub