Family POLYPOCEPHALIDAE Meggit, 1924

Museums

Regional Maps

• Anteroporidae Euzet, L. 1994. Order Lecanicephalidea Wardle & McLeod, 1952. pp. 195-204 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. [201].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Jensen, K., Caira, J.N., Cielocha, J.J., Littlewood, D.T.J. & Waeschenbach, A. 2016. When proglottids and scoleces conflict: phylogenetic relationships and a family-level classification of the Lecanicephalidea (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda). International Journal for Parasitology 46: 291-310 [303]

Introduction

This striking family with a single genus, Polypocephalus Braun, 1878, is immediately recognisable from the scolex which has four suckers and a variable number of retractile tentacles emerging from the apex. When everted, the scolex resembles a cnidarian polyp, hence both the generic and family names.

The genus is represented by a number of species in Australia, but only one has been formally described (Butler 1987). Additional ultrastructural features of metacestodes are reported by Brockerhoff & Jones (1995).

General References

Brockerhoff, A. & Jones, M.K. 1995. Ultrastructure of the scolex and tentacles of the metacestode of Polypocephalus species (Lecanicephalidae) from the blue-swimmer crab Portunus pelagicus. International Journal for Parasitology 25: 1077-1088

Butler, S.A. 1987. Taxonomy of some tetraphyllidean cestodes from elasmobranch fishes. Australian Journal of Zoology 35: 343-371

History of changes