Order AMPHILINIDEA Poche, 1922

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Introduction

Amphilinideans are a small group of monozoic (unsegmented) cestodes, usually separated from the Eucestodes or true cestodes. They lack a well-developed organ of attachment at the anterior end although a small, sucker-like organ may be present. The genital openings, either paired male and female openings or a single opening, are at the posterior end of the body, while the long, often convoluted uterus, frequently in the shape of an N, opens near the anterior extremity. Adults are found in the body cavities of chondrosteans and teleosts, with one in an Australian freshwater chelonian turtle. The egg, when laid, hatches to release a 10-hooked lycophore larva. Intermediate hosts are crustaceans (Gibson 1994).

The amphilinideans are generally considered to be a primitive group of cestodes, possibly basal to all of the remaining cestodes (Hoberg et al. 2001). Several classifications of the Amphilinidea exist (Dubinina 1982; Schmidt 1986: Bandoni & Brooks 1987; Gibson 1994). The most recent, that of Gibson (1994), is followed here. Rohde (1994) has reviewed recent literature on the group.

The Amphilinidea is represented in Australia by a single family, the Schizochoeridae.

General References

Bandoni, S.M. & Brooks, D.R. 1982. Revision and phylogenetic analysis of the Amphilinidea Poche, 1922 (Platyhelminthes: Cercomeria: Cercomeromorphae). Canadian Journal of Zoology 65: 1110-1128

Dubinina, M.N. 1982. Parasitic worms of the class Amphilinida [In Russian]. Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta, Akademiya Nauk SSSR 100: 1-143

Gibson, D.I. 1994. Order Amphilinidea. pp. 3-10 in Khalil, L.F., Jones, A. & Bray, R.A. (eds). Keys to the Cestode Parasites of Vertebrates. Wallingford, UK : Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux International 751 pp.

Hoberg, E.P., Mariaux, J. & Brooks, D.R. 2001. Phylogeny among orders of the Eucestoda (Cercomeromorphae): integrating morphology, molecules and total evidence. pp. 112-126 in Littlewood, D.J.T. & Bray, R.A. (eds). Interrelationships of the Platyhelminthes. London, UK : The Systematics Association, Taylor & Francis 356 pp.

Rohde, K. 1994. The minor groups of parasitic platyhelminths. Advances in Parasitology 33: 145-234

Schmidt, G.D. 1986. Handbook of Tapeworm Identification. Boca Raton, Florida : CRC Press 675 pp.

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