Free-living nematodes are well-recognized as an abundant and ubiquitous component of benthic communities in inland waters. Compelling evidence from soil and marine ecosystems has highlighted the importance of nematodes as trophic intermediaries between microbial production and higher trophic levels. However, the paucity of empirical evidence of their role in freshwater ecosystems has hampered t...

In biological control programmes introduced natural enemies compete with indigenous enemies for hosts and may also engage in intraguild predation when two species competing for the same prey attack and consume one another. The large pine weevil, Hylobius abietis L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is an important pest of coniferous reforestation in Europe. Among its natural enemies, the parasitoid ...

Four experiments were conducted using nematode-infested and nematode-free adults of the cerambycid beetle, Monochamus alternatus, to determine horizontal transmission pathways of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. When nematode-infested beetles of one sex and nematode-free beetles of the opposite sex were paired in containers for 48 or 72 hours, the number of nematodes carried by nematode-free beetles...

It was observed that Leidynema appendiculata (Leidy, 1850) and Hammerschmidtiella diesingi (Hammerschmidt, 1838; Chitwood, 1932), which are nematodes parasitic in the hind-gut of Blatta orientalis L., could survive in the hind-gut when the cockroach moulted and it was decided to see what effect moulting of the cockroach had upon the nematodes. In moulting cockroaches there is a certain amount o...

A digital imaging system was developed for measuring various physical characteristics of individual nematodes and for comparing groups of nematodes. The equipment consists of a microscope, a video camera, a video digitizer, interactive displays, and a computer. Various physical and mathematical methods were incorporated, algorithms devised, and computer software written for image acquisition, e...

Four plants, Cyperus ochraceus, Eriocaulon compressum, Lythrum alatum, and Xyris jupicai, growing along the shoreline of an oligotrophic lake in north central Florida were sampled for nematodes. The nematodes recovered were placed in four trophic groups: bacterivores, herbivores, omnivores, and predators. When the nematodes on all plants were considered, 27% were bacterivores, 23% were herbivor...

Coproscopic examinations of mouflons Ovis aries musimon from four forest districts of Lower Silesia performed in spring and autumn from 2012 to 2014 demonstrated the presence of pulmonary nematodes and intestinal parasites, including coccidia of the genus Eimeria. Prevalence of pulmonary nematodes (mainly Muellerius capillaris) amounted to 69.78%, intestinal nematodes--56.11% and coccidia of th...

Infective stages of commercially used molluscicidal rhabditide nematodes Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita contain bacterial symbionts which kill their host by septicaemia. The nematodes feed on the multiplying bacteria and entire host tissue, develop and repeatedly reproduce. Invertebrate cadavers are rapidly (from minutes to hours) removed by scavengers. However nematodes need days to complete th...

Nematodes are very common animals and they have repeatedly evolved parasitic lifestyles during their evolutionary history. Recently, the genomes of many nematodes, especially parasitic species, have been determined, potentially giving an insight into the genetic and genomic basis of nematodes' parasitism. But, to achieve this, phylogenetically appropriate comparisons of genomes of free-living a...

Four thoroughbred horses showing lameness, ataxia, circling, depression, recumbency, and seizures, were examined. The horses had gross, pale- to dark-red manifestations and foci in the central nervous system (CNS). Multifocal to coalescing eosinophilic necrotizing encephalomyelitis was observed histologically in the CNS along with intact or degenerated nematodes. Nematodes had polymyarian-coelo...