Order CYCLOPHYLLIDEA van Beneden in Braun, 1900

Raillietina paucitesticulata [from Beveridge, 1985]

© Copyright Ian Beveridge. Melbourne University.

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Introduction

The order Cyclophyllidea is by far the largest of the cestode orders as well as being considered the most highly derived (Hoberg et al. 1999). Species occur in the intestines of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, achieving their greatest diversity in birds and mammals. The order includes a large number of species that are economically important as pathogens of domestic animals as well as several species of medical significance.

The order is characterised by the possession of four suckers, with an armed rostellum present in many species. The strobilus is segmented and the genital pores are lateral. The vitellarium is compact and lies posterior to the ovary. The life cycle involves an arthropod or mammalian intermediate host (Khalil et al. 1994).

The history of the order was reviewed by Wardle & McLeod (1952), Hoberg et al. (1999) and more recently by Mariaux et al. (2017).
Khalil et al. (1994) recognised 14 families within the order, but some aspects of the family structure remain unstable. Hoberg et al. (1999) recognised an additional family, Gryporhinchidae Spasskii & Spasskaia, 1973. The Mesocestoididae Fuhrmann, 1907, recognised as a cyclophyllidean by Khalil et al. (1994), has recently been elevated to ordinal status by Hoberg et al. (2001). In addition, the relationships of the four subfamilies currently recognised in the Anoplocephalidae Cholodkovsky, 1902 have been questioned (Beveridge 1994), with the Linstowiinae Fuhrmann, 1907 having been recognised as a family in earlier classifications (Spasski 1951). The structure of the order will probably change in the future.

The classification adopted here is that of Mariaux et al. (2017). A cladistic analysis by Hoberg et al. (1999) is also available.

Most families of the order have been found in Australia. The Catenotaeniidae Spasskii, 1950 and Mesocestoididae are parasites of eutherian mammals in the Northern Hemisphere, hosts that do not occur in Australia. However, the Amabiliidae Braun, 1900 and Progynotaeniidae Fuhrmann, 1936 which are parasites of grebes and charadriiform birds, respectively, may be present but as yet unreported.

General References

Beveridge, I. 1994. Family Anoplocephalidae Cholodkovsky, 1902. pp. 315-366 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., Jones, A. & Bray, R.A. 1999. Phylogenetic analysis among the families of the Cyclophyllidea (Eucestoda) based on comparative morphology, with new hypotheses for co-evolution in vertebrates. Systematic Parasitology 42: 51-73

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.

Khalil, L.F., Jones, A. & Bray, R.A. (eds) 1994. Keys to the Cestode Parasites of Vertebrates. Wallingford, UK : Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux International 751 pp.

Mariaux, J., Tkach, V.V., Vasileva, G.P., Waeschenbach, A., Beveridge, I., Dimitrova, Y.D., Haukisalmi, V., Greinman, S.E., Littlewood, D.T.J., MAkarikov, A.A., Philips, A.J., Razafiarisolo, T., Widmer, V. & Georgiev, B.B. 2017. Cyclophyllidea van Beneden in Braun, 1900. pp. 77-148 in Caira, J.N. & Jensen, K. (eds.). Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (2008–2017): Tapeworms from Vertebrate Bowels of the Earth. Lawrence, KS, USA : University of Kansas, Natural History Museum Vol. Special Publication No. 25.

Spasskii, A.A 1951. [Essentials of Cestodology. Vol. I. Anoplocephalate tapeworms of wild and domestic animals]. In, Skryabin, K.I. (ed.). Essentials of Cestodology. Moskva : Akademia NAUK, SSR Vol. 1 730 pp.

Wardle, R.A. & McLeod, J.A. 1952. The Zoology of Tapeworms. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press 780 pp.

History of changes