Ascaridina

Ascaridina
Adult Toxocara canis (Ascaridoidea: Toxocaridae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Nematoda
Class:	Chromadorea
Order:	Ascaridida
Suborder:	Ascaridina
Superfamilies
5, see text

The suborder Ascaridina contains the bulk of the Ascaridida, parasitic roundworms with three "lips" on the anterior end. The Ascaridida were formerly placed in the subclass Rhabditia by some, but morphological and DNA sequence data rather unequivocally assigns them to the Spiruria. The Oxyurida and Rhigonematida are occasionally placed in the Ascaridina as superfamily Oxyuroidea, but while they seem indeed to be Spiruria, they are not as close to Ascaris as such a treatment would place them. ^[1]

These "worms" contain a number of important parasites of humans and domestic animals, namely in the superfamily Ascaridoidea.

Fossil record

Some paleoparasitological studies have described groups belonging to Ascaridina infecting fish, reptiles, and mammals in the Mesozoic. ^[2] Ascaridoids are known from coprolitic evidence to have infected crocodyliforms in the Late Cretaceous of Brazil. ^[3]

Systematics

The Ascaridina contain the following superfamilies and families: ^[4]

Superfamily Ascaridoidea Acanthocheilidae Anisakidae Ascarididae Crossophoridae Goeziidae Raphidascarididae (disputed) Toxocaridae Superfamily Cosmocercoidea Atractidae Cosmocercidae Kathlaniidae Superfamily Heterakoidea Ascaridiidae Aspidoderidae (disputed) Heterakidae

Superfamily Seuratoidea Chitwoodchabaudiidae (disputed) Cucullanidae Quimperiidae Schneidernematidae Seuratidae Superfamily Subuluroidea Maupasinidae Subuluridae

Footnotes

1. ToL (2002)
2. Macêdo do Carmo, Gustavo; Garcia, Renato Araujo; Vieira, Fabiano Matos; de Souza Lima, Sueli; Ismael de Araújo-Júnior, Hermínio; Pinheiro, Ralph Maturano (May 2023). "Paleoparasitological study of avian trace fossils from the Tremembé Formation (Oligocene of the Taubaté Basin), São Paulo, Brazil". Journal of South American Earth Sciences . 125 104319. Bibcode:2023JSAES.12504319M. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2023.104319.
3. Cardia, Daniel Fontana Ferreira; Bertini, Reinaldo J.; Camossi, Lucilene Granuzzio; Letizio, Luiz Antonio (21 December 2018). "The first record of Ascaridoidea eggs discovered in Crocodyliformes hosts from the Upper Cretaceous of Brazil" (PDF). Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 21 (3): 238–244. Bibcode:2018RvBrP..21..238C. doi:10.4072/rbp.2018.3.04 . Retrieved 30 December 2025.
4. ToL (2002), SN2K (2008)

References

• Systema Naturae 2000 (SN2K) (2008): Suborder Ascaridina ^{[ permanent dead link ]}. Version of 2008-AUG-14. Retrieved 2008-NOV-05.
• Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) (2002): Nematoda. Version of 2002-JAN-01. Retrieved 2008-NOV-02.