Family RHINOPTERICOLIDAE Carvajal & Campbell, 1975

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Introduction

The family Shirleyrhynchidae was erected by Campbell & Beveridge (1994) for two enigmatic Australian genera of cestodes characterised by four bothria and a typical heteroacanthous tentacular armature. One genus occurs in dasyatid rays and the other in a basking shark. They were initially thought to be related to the Gilquiniidae based on the possession of four bothria and a typical heteroacanthous armature, but more recent studies (Beveridge et al. 1999) suggest an association with the Eutetrarhynchidae. Their phylogenetic relationships therefore remain to be resolved.

Although initially regarded as endemic, Shirleyrhynchus has recently been shown to occur in Sri Lanka (Beveridge & Campbell 1998) and it is unlikely that Cetorhinicola, the parasite of the basking shark, will prove to be endemic given the pelagic nature of its host.

General References

Beveridge, I., Campbell, R.A. & Palm, H. 1999. Preliminary cladistic analysis of the cestode order Trypanorhyncha Diesing, 1863. Systematic Parasitology 42: 29-49

Beveridge, I. & Campbell, R.A. 1998. Re-examination of the trypanorhynch cestode collections of A.E. Shipley, J. Hornell and T. Southwell, with the erection of a new genus, Trygonicola, and redescriptions of seven species. Systematic Parasitology 39: 1-34

Campbell, R.A. & Beveridge, I. 1994. Order Trypanorhyncha Diesing, 1863. pp. 51-148 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.

Palm, H.W. 2004. The Trypanorhyncha Diesing, 1863. Bogor : PKSPL-IBP Press 710 pp.

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