The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China || Phylum Nematomorpha

✍ Scribed by Xian-Guang, Hou; Aldridge, Richard J.; Bergstrm, Jan; Siveter, David J.; Siveter, Derek J.; Xiang-hong, Feng

• Book ID: 102682987
• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
• Year: 2003
• Weight: 508 KB
• Category: Article
• ISBN: 1405106735
• DOI: 10.1002/9780470999950.ch11

✦ Synopsis

This minor group, generally known as horsehair worms, is represented by about 300 living species (Ruppert & Barnes 1996). Except for the pelagic swimmer Nectonema, which lives in marine waters, all Recent nematomorphs inhabit fresh water. Most adult nematomorphs are 5-10 cm long; they have elongate hair-like bodies, a poorly differentiated head region and are free-living. In contrast, the larval stage, which has a protrusible and spine-bearing proboscis, lives parasitically and even molts within the body of a wide variety of hosts such as centipedes, grasshoppers, beetles, crabs, shrimps and other animals that live in or near water. Some authors recognize three possible nematomorph genera from the Chengjiang biota (Hou & Bergström 1994); other investigators reject a nematomorph assignment for some or all of these genera (e.g. Chen & Zhou 1997).