The name comes from Greek: caeno- (καινός (caenos) = new, recent); rhabditis = rod-like (ῥάβδος (rhabdos) = rod, wand).

Juvenile worms and also dauer larvae can be transported by invertebrates including millipedes, insects, isopods, and gastropods.

A necromenic worm waits for the host to die, and lives on the bacteria which thrive in the dead animal.

35 C. briggsae C. nigoni C. sinica C. latens C. remanei C. wallacei C. tropicalis C. brenneri C. doughertyi C. elegans C. nouraguensis C. yunquensis C. macrosperma C. afra C. imperialis C. japonica C. kamaaina C. drosophilae C. sp.

[26] These molecular markers help distinguish this genus from all other species, and their presence on surface-exposed loops suggest implications in protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions.