The Pratylenchidea of the World contains full descriptions of all the root-lesion or meadow nematodes, burrowing nematodes, rice root nematodes and false root-knot nematodes reported from everywhere in the world that were considered by Decraemer & Hunt (2006) to be-long to the family Pratylenchidae, order Tylenchida. It also contains the subfamily Nacobboderinae belonging to the family Meloidogynidae. All these nematodes are obligate plant-parasitic nematodes, most of them showing a migratory, endoparasitic way of life but some are sedentary root-gall inciting parasites. The Pratylenchidea of the World is amply illustrated with line drawings and some SEM-photographs that are based on microscopic and sub-microscopic observations.
Etienne Geraert was Zoology Professor at Ghent University, Belgium. From 1974 till 1998 he was also Associate Editor of the international journal Nematologica (now Nematology) where he was responsible for the articles on morphology and taxonomy. From 1990 till 2002 he was director of the Master Course in Nematology at Ghent University.