The thorny-headed wormfamilyPolymorphidae contains endoparasites which as adults feed mainly in fish and aquatic birds. When this taxon was erected by Meyer in 1931, a subfamilyPolymorphinae was established in it. As the Polymorphidae as presently understood would then be monotypic, with no basalgenera outside the Polymorphinae, the proposed subfamily is redundant for the time being and therefore most modern treatments simply omit it. Polymorphus minutus is an economically significant parasite in goose and duck farming.
A juvenile female Corynosoma australe with a detail of the proboscis. Bar on the left is 1mm and the bar on the right is 0.25mm.[1]Male juvenile Corynosoma cetaceum with a detail of the proboscis, neck, and trunk spines. Bar on the left is 1mm and the bar on the right is 0.5mm.[1]
The genus polymorphus Lühe, 1911 uses amphipod crustaceans as intermediate hosts and various birds as final hosts. The genus used to be a larger group, but species that were formerly placed in the genus have now been placed in the genus Profilicollis based on morphological characteristics and the use of decapod crustaceans as intermediate hosts.[3]
^A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than the present genus.
References
^ abcFonseca, Michelle Cristie Gonçalves da, Knoff, Marcelo, Felizardo, Nilza Nunes, Torres, Eduardo José Lopes, Di Azevedo, Maria Isabel Nogueira, Gomes, Delir Corrêa, Clemente, Sérgio Carmona de São, & Iñiguez, Alena Mayo. (2019). Acanthocephalan parasites of the flounder species Paralichthys isosceles, Paralichthys patagonicus and Xystreurys rasile from Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Parasitologia Veterinária, 28(3), 346-359. Epub June 13, 2019.https://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1984-29612019031
^B.B. Nickol, D.W.T. Crompton, and D.W. Searle (1999). "Reintroduction of Profilicollis Meyer, 1931, as a genus in Acanthocephala: Significance of the intermediate host." Journal of Parasitology 85(4):716-718
^ abcPresswell, B., Bennett, J.D.L. & Smales, L.R. Morphological and molecular characterisation of a new genus and species of acanthocephalan, Tenuisoma tarapungi n. g., n. sp. (Acanthocephala: Polymorphidae) infecting red-billed gulls in New Zealand, with a key to the genera of the Polymorphidae Meyer, 1931. Syst Parasitol 97, 25–39 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11230-019-09898-0
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Polymorphidae.
.png)
