MARINE NEMATODES OF THE FAMILY EPSILONEMATIDAE - A SYNTHESIS WITH PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS

The family Epsilonematidae is reviewed. Diagnoses of all taxa are upda ted, based upon an evaluation of diagnostic features. A generic pictor ial key is provided as well as tables summarising the diagnostic chara cters at species level. An attempt is made to recognize the phylogenet ic relationships within the family. The phylogenetic analyses were bas ed upon a data matrix composed of 13 taxa in the ingroup and 16 charac ters. The results emphasize the monophyletic status of the Epsilonemat idae and suggest that Glochinema Metaglochinema and Keratonema form a monophyletic group in relation to the other genera when the characters are treated in ordinal sequence.