Family ECHINOPHALLIDAE Schumacher, 1914

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Introduction

Echinocephallid cestodes are characterised by having the genital pore opening dorsally but in the sub-marginal rather than the median position. The uterine pore is ventral.

All members of this family are parasitic in marine teleosts (Bray et al. 1994).

Australian records of this family are few and probably reflect the lack of systematic collecting. Parabothriocephalus Yamaguti, 1934 occurs in fish in the Australian Antarctic Territories and was reported as a result of the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expeditions conducted under the direction of Prof. Sir Douglas Mawson between 1924 and 1931. The remaining genera, Echinophallus Schumacher, 1914 and Paratelemerus Gulyaev, Korotaeva & Kurochkin, 1898 have been reported by Russian scientists examining parasites of fish collected by Russian fishing fleets off the Australian coast. Systematic collecting from marine teleosts may reveal additional taxa.

General References

Bray, R.A., Jones. A. & Andersen, K.I. 1994. Order Pseudophyllidea Carus, 1863. pp. 205-247 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.

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