Acanthocephala

For other uses, see Acanthocephala (disambiguation).

Acanthocephala
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous–Recent
Corynosoma wegeneri
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
Clade: ParaHoxozoa
Clade: Bilateria
Clade: Nephrozoa
(unranked): Protostomia
(unranked): Spiralia
Clade: Gnathifera
Phylum: Acanthocephala
Koelreuter, 1771[1][2]
Classes

Acanthocephala /əˌkænθoʊˈsɛfələ/[3] (Greek ἄκανθος, akanthos 'thorn' + κεφαλή, kephale 'head') is a group of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to pierce and hold the gut wall of its host. Acanthocephalans have complex life cycles, involving at least two hosts, which may include invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals.[4][5][6][7] About 1420 species have been described.[8][9]

The Acanthocephala were thought to be a discrete phylum. Recent genome analysis has shown that they are descended from, and should be considered as, highly modified rotifers.[10] This unified taxon is sometimes known as Syndermata, or simply as Rotifera, with the acanthocephalans described as a subclass of a rotifer class Hemirotatoria.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference crompton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Koelreuter, I. T. (1770). "Descriptio cyprini rutili, quem halawel russi vocant, historico-anatomica". Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae. 15: 494–503.
  3. ^ "acanthocephalan". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  4. ^ Perrot-Minnot, Marie-Jeanne; Cozzarolo, Camille-Sophie; Amin, Omar; Barčák, Daniel; Bauer, Alexandre; Filipović Marijić, Vlatka; García-Varela, Martín; Servando Hernández-Orts, Jesús; Yen Le, T.T.; Nachev, Milen; Orosová, Martina; Rigaud, Thierry; Šariri, Sara; Wattier, Rémi; Reyda, Florian; Sures, Bernd (2023). "Hooking the scientific community on thorny-headed worms: interesting and exciting facts, knowledge gaps and perspectives for research directions on Acanthocephala". Parasite. 30: 23. doi:10.1051/parasite/2023026. PMC 10288976. PMID 37350678. Open access icon
  5. ^ de Buron, I.; Golvan, Y. J. (1986). "Les hôtes des Acanthocéphales. I — Les Hôtes intermédiaires". Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée. 61 (5): 581–592. doi:10.1051/parasite/1986615581. ISSN 0003-4150. Open access icon
  6. ^ Golvan, Y. J.; De Buron, I. (1988). "Les hôtes des Acanthocéphales. II — Les hôtes définitifs. 1. Poissons". Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée. 63 (5): 349–375. doi:10.1051/parasite/1988635349. ISSN 0003-4150. PMID 3059956. Open access icon
  7. ^ Roberts, Larry S.; Janovy, John Jr. (2009). Foundations of Parasitology (Eighth ed.). McGraw-Hill. p. 502. ISBN 9780073028279.
  8. ^ Freeman, Scott, Lizabeth Allison, Michael Black, Greg Podgorski, and Kim Quillin. Biological Sciences. 5th ed. Glenview, Il: Pearson, 2014. 638. Print.
  9. ^ Encyclopedia of Life, retrieved July 24, 2015
  10. ^ Shimek, Ronald (January 2006). "Nano-Animals, Part I: Rotifers". Reefkeeping.com. Retrieved July 27, 2008.
  11. ^ Giribet, Gonzalo; Edgecombe, Gregory D. (2020). The invertebrate tree of life. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-17025-1.