The order originated with the description of Dorylaimus stagnalis by Dujardin in 1845, and in 1876 De MAn proposed the family Dorylamidae, while Cobb added many other genera and subgenera. In 1927 Filipjev added a subfamily, Dorylaiminae, and by 1934 there were four subfamilies. That was when Thorne raised family Dorylaimidae to superfamily Dorylaimoidea. In 1936 Pearse raised it further to become a suborder of Enoplida, and in 1942 Pearse proposed the current order, Dorylaimida to encompass all of the dorylaim nematodes. Many reorganisations followed. For instance Clark (1961) did not accept Dorylaimida, whereas Goodey (1963) did. Other reclassifications include Jairajpuri (1964, 1969, 1976, 1980, 1983, 1992), Thorne (1964, 1967), Siddiqui (1968, 1983), Andrássy (1969, 1976), and Coomans and Loof (1970). The scheme shown here is that of Jairajpuri (1992), which excludes the mononchs, alaims (Alaimida) and diphtherophorids (Triplonchida).
With the advent of molecular phylogenetic analysis, a further reorganisation has been necessary.
The families of order Dorylaimida are divided into three suborders and a number of superfamilies:
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