Taxonomy and biology of proteocephalidean cestodes: current state and perspectives

0157648 - PAU-O 20033035 RIV SK eng J - Journal Article
Scholz, Tomáš - de Chambrier, A.
Taxonomy and biology of proteocephalidean cestodes: current state and perspectives.
Helminthologia. Roč. 40, č. 2 (2003), s. 65-75. ISSN 0440-6605. E-ISSN 1336-9083
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA524/01/1314
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z6022909
Keywords : Proteocephalidea * taxonomy * phylogeny
Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine
Impact factor: 0.474, year: 2003

The order Proteocephalidea includes almost 400 species of tapeworm parasites (Cestoda) of fish, amphibians, and reptiles, with one species recently found in a mammal (the black-eared opossum in Mexico). Presumably, a narrow host specificity of species parasitic in siluriform fish in the Neotropical region, would make the proteocephalideans a suitable model for studies of parasite-host co-evolution. However, the systematics of the order and the phylogenetic relationships of individual genera and subfamilies are insufficiently known. It is now obvious from molecular data that the most abundant genera, such as Proteocephalus and Ophiotaenia, are artificial assemblages of unrelated taxa. The information about the life-cycles of proteocephalideans is also scarce, with the most data related to the development of the species of Proteocephalus and Ophiotaenia from freshwater fish and reptiles in the Holarctic region.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0055086