Kingdom Animalia Suborder Rhabditina Genus Mononchoides Rank Species | Class Chromadorea Infraorder Diplogasteromorpha Phylum Nematoda Order Rhabditida | |
Similar Diplogasteridae, Diplogasterida, Rhabditida, Rhabditidae, Cephalobus | ||
Mononchoides sp. is a quite common genus in the phylum of the nematoda and by far the most diverse genus of the family of the Diplogastridae. It has been described to live in various terrestrial habitats and is often associated with compost, dung, mud, other decaying materials and different kinds of beetles. Some have even been described from fresh water and marine habitats. In 2011, a new species has been described by Steel et al. This species was isolated from compost during the composting process and was named Mononchoides composticola.
Contents
Composting process
M. composticola became dominantly present in the studied compost heap. The composting process is typically subdivided into 3 different phases based on the temperature profile:
- the thermophilic phase (45 °C - 75 °C)
- the cooling phase (45 °C environmental temperature)
- the maturation phase (≈ environmental temperature)
It is during the last two phases that Mononchoides composticola would become dominant in the compost heap.
Feeding habits
M. composticola has several preferences to what it consumes for food. It has the ability to actively move towards bacterial food resources like the Achromobacter sp. It is also able to prey on other (compost)nematodes and demonstrates a higher predation rate on the relatively small and slow moving nematodes (Rhabditella sp.) than on the larger though more motile Poikilolaimus sp. This means that M. composticola has a dual feeding behavior and can alternate between bacterial and nematode prey.
Morphometric data
All the measurements are expressed in µm.
Diagnosis
M. composticola is characterised by a combination of the following morphological features:
Phylogenetic analysis
M. composticola is part of a clade that contains Mononchoides striatus, Tylopharynx foetida and Aduncospiculum halicti (grey box). The image below shows more detailed information about the phylogenetic tree of M. composticola