Australian Biological Resources Study

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Class MYXOZOA Grasse, 1970


Compiler and date details

June 2013 - Robert Adlard & Marissa McNamara, Queensland Museum, QLD

July 2010 - Data provided by Peter O’Donoghue (UQ) and Rob Adlard (QM), entered in AFD by ABRS

Introduction

Myxozoans produce multicellular spores comprised of valvogenic cells forming spore shell valves, sporoplasmic cells acting as infective germ cells, and capsulogenic cells forming polar capsules with extrudible filaments (similar to cnidarian nematocysts — but used for attachment rather than hunting or defence). Some 3,000 myxozoan species have been described, most as coelozoic or histozoic parasites in the organ cavities and tissues of fish although some are found in amphibia, reptiles and various invertebrates (especially oligochaetes, polychaetes and sipunculids). The life cycles of several species (mainly from freshwater fishes) have been found recently to involve cyclic development between myxosporean stages in fishes and actinosporean stages in invertebrates. The Myxozoa were originally thought to have affinities with the Microspora which form unicellular spores, so many early classification schemes placed them together in the subkingdom Protozoa (Protista, Protoctista). However, ultrastructural and molecular studies indicate that the Myxozoa are bilateral metazoans and they have been transferred to the Animalia (Holozoa, Metazoa) in the supergroup Opisthokonta. For taxonomic considerations, see Adl et al. (2012).

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
07-Apr-2016 07-Apr-2016 MOVED
07-May-2013 06-Jul-2015 MODIFIED
26-Jul-2012 26-Jul-2012 MODIFIED
26-Jul-2012 14-Mar-2012 MODIFIED
05-Jul-2011 ADDED