The systematic position of the family Ironidae and its relation to the Dorylaimida
Coomans, A.; Van Der Heiden, A. (1979). The systematic position of the family Ironidae and its relation to the Dorylaimida. Ann. Soc. R. Zool. Bel. 108(1-2): 5-11
In: Annales de la Société Royale Zoologique de Belgique = Annalen van de Koninklijke Belgische Vereniging voor Dierkunde. Société Royale Zoologique de Belgique: Bruxelles. ISSN 0771-5528, more
A critical review is made of the similarities and differences existing between the Ironidae and the Dorylaimida. The most important diagnostic features of the main groups of Dorylaimida, up to the superfamily level, and of the Enoplidae are listed. The family Ironidae is subdivided into two subfamilies of which the Coniliinae constitute a new subfamily with Conilia Gerlach, 1956 as the type genus. From the detailed comparison of both groups it is concluded that the differences are important and that the similarities are probably the result of parallel evolution, occurring in two branches that evolved independently from a remote enoplid ancestor. It is further argued that Ironidae do not fit well in Tripyloidea and are at present better included in Enoploidea. On several occasions the similarities between Ironidae and Dorylaimida have been stressed, the extreme being the inclusion of the genera of the Ironidae in the family Dorylaimidae (Wieser, 1953). Ironidae are now usually classified under Tripyloidea in the Enoplida, but a close relationship between Ironidae and Dorylaimida has been postulated, with Ironidae representing the ancestral type.
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