DESCRIPTION
                    - Body very slender (a = 70-100), cylindrical, narrowing abruptly at the cloaca in the male
                    - Lateral field as a narrow refractive band, phasmids and deirids usually absent
                    - Lip region smooth
                    - Stylet tylenchoid with knobs
                    - Esophagus, a simple tube; glands in a lobe overlapping intestine
                    - Vulva posterior; ovary single, prodelphic
                    - Post uterine sac present
                    - Bursa short, adanal
                    - Tail long

Type subfamily: Ecphyadophorinae Skarbilovich 1959
           Note: This family was considered as a subfamily of Tylenchidae by Raski, Maggenti, Koshy and Sosama 1980. We do not agree with these authors. We place them in a separate family in Tylenchida.

           Key to genera:
                   1.  Stylet long (38-51 um), esophagus with metacorpus, post uterine sac absent .......................................Epicharinema
                       Stylet shorter, esophagus without metacorpus, post uterin sac present ......................................................................2
                   2.  Head dorso-ventrally flattened, spicule tylenchoid ......................................................................Ecphyadophoroides
                       Head not dorso-ventrally flattened, spicule very slender....................................................................Ecphyadophora

           ECPHYADOPHORA deMan 1921  (Fig. 1)

            Ecphyadophorinae
                 - Body slender, cuticle with fine annulation
                 - Lateral field with or without incisures
                 - Lip region smooth
                 - Stylet small with knobs
                 - Esophagus, a simple tube; median bulb absent; esophageal glands in a lobe overlapping intestine
                 - Female body narrows abruptly or gradually at vulva; vagina slopes anteriorly inwards
                 - Gonad single with distinct spermatheca
                 - Post uterine sac short
                 - Male body narrows abruptly at cloaca
                 - Bursa short, prominent
                 - Spicules very slender, straight or slightly curved

Type species: Ecphyadophora tenuissima deMan, 1921
             * Members of this genus were found around the root systems of
Fimbristylis sp. (Central Africa) and various plants in Florida and Holland.

            ECPHYADOPHOROIDES Corbett, 1964 (Fig. 2)
               Ecphyadophorinae
                 - Body slender, tapering to an acute terminus
                 - Lateral field with or without incisures
                 - Head dorso-ventrally flattened
                 - Lip region long, smooth
                 - Stylet small with knobs
                 - Esophagus, a simple tube; median bulb absent; esophageal glands in a lobe overlapping intestine
                 - Vulva about 2/3 of body length from the head
                 - Post uterine sac short
                 - Bursa short, prominent
                 - Spicules tylenchoid

Type species: Ecphyadophoroides annulatus Corbett, 1964
           * Type host: Fimbristylis sp. (Africa).

            EPICHARINEMA Raski, Maggenti, Koshy, and Sosamma, 1980  (Fig. 3)
              Ecphyadophorinae
                - Body long, very slender (1.11-1.53mm); cuticle smooth over most of body, phasmids not seen
                - Body narrows slightly anteriorly, then more abruptly near anterior extremity
                - Cephalic region flattened, dorsal ventrally, with rounded margins, almost truncate anteriorly
                - Stylet long (38-51 um), cone very slender, knobs well developed
                - Esophagus with metacorpus, distinctly rounded and set-off, with well-developed valve; sophageal
                  glands overlapping intestine.
                - Female gonad interiorly directed, no post-valval uterine branch observed, female tail long, slender,
                   narrowing gradually from acute terminus
                - Male body narrows abruptly at cloaca, tail almost tubular, very long and slender
                - Caudal alae prominent, leptoderan, with two selerotized ribs supporting each ala
                - Spicules tylenchoid, gubernaculum 8-14 um long, slender simple, testis single, outstretched

                Type species: Epicharinema keralense Raski, Maggenti, Koshy, and Sosama, 1980

            * Type host: Coconut palm (India).

           Remark

           This nematode is very close to Ecphyadophora and Ecphyadophoroides but has a median bulb and smooth cuticle. With these characters Raski et al. placed them in the subfamily Ecphyadophorinae, Tylenchidae.

           To us, it is reasonable to place them in the same group but they must be in a distinct group because of the abnormal shape of the head region of these nematodes, special caudal alae, very long male tail, and peculiar general shape. They cannot be in Tylenchidae, Tylenchoidea as Raski et al. suggested because of the above mentioned characters and the almost cylindrical esophagus without a valve in Ecphyadophora and Ecphyadophoroides and the significant esophageal overlap of Epicharinema.
           We consider this group as a separate family, Ecphyadophoridae, in Tylenchida.

    Corbett, D. C. M. 1964. Central African nematodes I. Ecphyadophora quadralata n.sp. and two species of Ecphyadophoroides n.gen. (Nematoda: Neotylenchidae). Nematologica 10: 121-130.

    Husain, S. I., and A. M. Khan, 1965. A new genus and six new species of nematodes from India belonging in the family Neotylenchidae with an amendation of the subfamily Ecphyadophorinae. Proc. Helminthol. Soc. Wash. 32: 7-15.

    Husain, S. I., and A. M. Khan. 1968. Ecphyadophoroides graminis n.sp.and two new species of Ecphyadophora (Nematoda: Ecphyadophorinae) from North India. Nematologica 14: 377-384.

    DeMan, J. G. 1921. Nouvelles recherches sur les nematodes libres terricole de la Hollande. Capita Zool. 1: 1-62.

    Raski, D. J., A. R. Maggenti, P. K. Koshy, and V. K. Sosamma. 1980. Epicharinema keralense n.gen., n.sp. and comments on Atylenchinae and Ecphyadophorinae (Nemata: Tylenchidae). Revue Nematol. 3: 297-304.

    Raski, D. J., P. K. Koshy, and V. K. Sosamma. 1982. A revision of the subfamily Ecphyadophorinae Skarbilovich, 1959 (Tylenchida: Nematoda). Rev. Nematol. 5: 119-138.

    Skarbilovich, T.S. 1959. On the structure of systematics of the nematode order Tylenchida Thorne, 1949. Acta Parasit. Polonica 7: 117-132.

    Tarjan, A.C. 1957. Observations on Ecphyadophora tenuissima de Man, 1921. Nematologica 2: 152-158.