| Brachylaimidae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Class: | Trematoda |
| Order: | Diplostomida |
| Suborder: | Diplostomata |
| Superfamily: | Brachylaimoidea |
| Family: | Brachylaimidae Joyeux & Foley, 1930 [1] |
| Genera | |
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Brachylaimidae is a family of parasitic flukes in the sub-class Digenea. Adults are usually found within the digestive tracts and other organs of mammals or birds and have a complex three-stage life cycle. [2]
The adult body is elongate or occasionally oval or subglobular. sometimes with fine spines. The suckers are well-developed and usually at the anterior end. There is usually a prepharynx, the pharynx is muscular, the oesophagus, if present, is short and the caeca long, terminating near the posterior end. The gonads are posterior to the ventral sucker and the genital pore opens on the ventral surface. [3]
Adult flukes in this family are found in mammals, birds and occasionally amphibians. There are two intermediate hosts, both terrestrial molluscs. The cercariae leave the first intermediate host with easily shed, rudimentary tails and the metacercariae in the second intermediate host may or may not be encysted. [3]
Trematoda is a class of flatworms known as flukes or trematodes. They are obligate internal parasites with a complex life cycle requiring at least two hosts. The intermediate host, in which asexual reproduction occurs, is usually a snail. The definitive host, where the flukes sexually reproduce, is a vertebrate. Infection by trematodes can cause disease in all five traditional vertebrate classes: mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish.
Digenea is a class of trematodes in the Platyhelminthes phylum, consisting of parasitic flatworms with a syncytial tegument and, usually, two suckers, one ventral and one oral. Adults commonly live within the digestive tract, but occur throughout the organ systems of all classes of vertebrates. Once thought to be related to the Monogenea, it is now recognised that they are closest to the Aspidogastrea and that the Monogenea are more closely allied with the Cestoda. Around 6,000 species have been described to date.
The Aspidogastrea is a small group of flukes comprising about 80 species. It is a subclass of the trematoda, and sister group to the Digenea. Species range in length from approximately one millimeter to several centimeters. They are parasites of freshwater and marine molluscs and vertebrates. Maturation may occur in the mollusc or vertebrate host. None of the species has any economic importance, but the group is of very great interest to biologists because it has several characters which appear to be archaic.
Schistosomatidae is a family of digenetic trematodes with complex parasitic life cycles. Immature developmental stages of schistosomes are found in molluscs and adults occur in vertebrates. The best studied group, the blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma, infect and cause disease in humans. Other genera which are infective to non-human vertebrates can cause mild rashes in humans.
Trematodes are parasitic flatworms of the class Trematoda, specifically parasitic flukes with two suckers: one ventral and the other oral. Trematodes are covered by a tegument, that protects the organism from the environment by providing secretory and absorptive functions.
Opisthorchis viverrini, common name Southeast Asian liver fluke, is a food-borne trematode parasite from the family Opisthorchiidae that infects the bile duct. People are infected after eating raw or undercooked fish. Infection with the parasite is called opisthorchiasis. O. viverrini infection also increases the risk of cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts.
Echinostoma is a genus of trematodes (flukes), which can infect both humans and other animals. These intestinal flukes have a three-host life cycle with snails or other aquatic organisms as intermediate hosts, and a variety of animals, including humans, as their definitive hosts.
Dicrocoelium dendriticum, the lancet liver fluke, is a parasite fluke that tends to live in cattle or other grazing mammals.
Leucochloridium paradoxum, the green-banded broodsac, is a parasitic flatworm. Its intermediate hosts are land snails, usually of the genus Succinea. The pulsating, green broodsacs fill the eye stalks of the snail, thereby attracting predation by birds, the primary host. These broodsacs visually imitate caterpillars, a prey of birds. The adult parasite lives in the bird's cloaca, releasing its eggs into the faeces.
Fasciolidae is a family of trematodes and includes several parasites involved in the veterinary and medical sciences, which cause the disease Fasciolosis. Fasciolidae is divided into five genera by Olson et al. 2003. The family's various species are localised in liver, gall bladder, and intestine. Their life-cycle includes an intermediate host, freshwater snails from the family Lymnaeidae.
Leucochloridium variae, the brown-banded broodsac, is a species of trematode whose life cycle involves the alternate parasitic invasion of certain species of snail and bird. While there is no external evidence of the worm's existence within the bird host, the invasion of the snail host involves the grotesque swelling of one or both of the snail's eye stalks. This invasion does not cause the snail's death.
Echinostoma hortense is an intestinal fluke of the class Trematoda, which has been found to infect humans in East Asian countries such as Korea, China, and Japan. This parasite resides in the intestines of birds, rats and other mammals such as humans. While human infections are very rare in other regions of the world, East Asian countries have reported human infections up to about 24% of the population in some endemic sub-regions. E. hortense infections are zoonotic infections, which occurs from eating raw or undercooked freshwater fish. The primary disease associated with an E. hortense infection is called echinostomiasis, which is a general name given to diseases caused by Trematodes of the genus Echinostoma.
Spirorchiidae is a family of digenetic trematodes. Infestation by these trematodes leads to the disease spirorchiidiosis. Spirorchiids are mainly parasites of turtles. It has been synonymised with Proparorchiidae Ward, 1921, Spirorchidae Stunkard, 1921, and Spirorchiidae MacCallum, 1921.
Clinostomum marginatum is a species of parasitic fluke. It is commonly called the "yellow grub". It is found in many freshwater fish in North America, and no fish so far is immune to this parasite. It is also found in frogs. Clinostomum marginatum can also be found in the mouth of aquatic birds such as herons and egrets. They are commonly present in the esophagus of fish-eating birds and reptiles. Eggs of these trematodes are shed in the feces of aquatic birds and released into water. Aquatic birds become hosts of this parasite by ingesting infected freshwater fish. The metacercariae are found right beneath the skin or in the muscles of host fish.
Philophthalmus gralli, commonly known as the Oriental avian eye fluke, parasitises the conjunctival sac of the eyes of many species of birds, including birds of the orders Galliformes and Anseriformes. In Brazil this parasite was reported in native Anseriformes species. It was first discovered by Mathis and Leger in 1910 in domestic chickens from Hanoi, Vietnam. Birds are definitive hosts and freshwater snail species are intermediate hosts. Human cases of philophthalmosis are rare, but have been previously reported in Europe, Asia, and America.
A sucker in zoology is a specialised attachment organ of an animal. It acts as an adhesion device in parasitic worms, several flatworms, cephalopods, certain fishes, amphibians, and bats. It is a muscular structure for suction on a host or substrate. In parasitic annelids, flatworms and roundworms, suckers are the organs of attachment to the host tissues. In tapeworms and flukes, they are a parasitic adaptation for attachment on the internal tissues of the host, such as intestines and blood vessels. In roundworms and flatworms they serve as attachment between individuals particularly during mating. In annelids, a sucker can be both a functional mouth and a locomotory organ. The structure and number of suckers are often used as basic taxonomic diagnosis between different species, since they are unique in each species. In tapeworms there are two distinct classes of suckers, namely "bothridia" for true suckers, and "bothria" for false suckers. In digeneal flukes there are usually an oral sucker at the mouth and a ventral sucker posterior to the mouth. Roundworms have their sucker just in front of the anus; hence it is often called a pre-anal sucker.
Gastrodiscoides is genus of zoonotic trematode under the class Trematoda. It has only one species, Gastrodiscoides hominis. It is a parasite of a variety of vertebrates, including humans. The first definitive specimen was described from a human subject in 1876. It is prevalent in Bangladesh, India, Burma, China, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Volga Delta of Russia, with isolated cases from Africa, such as Nigeria. It is especially notable in the Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh regions of India.
Paramphistomum cervi, the type species of Paramphistomum, is a parasitic flat worm belonging to the class Trematoda. It is a tiny fluke mostly parasitising livestock ruminants, as well as some wild mammals. Uniquely, unlike most parasites, the adult worms are relatively harmless, but it is the developing juveniles that cause serious disease called paramphistomiasis, especially in cattle and sheep. Its symptoms include profuse diarrhoea, anaemia, lethargy, and often result in death if untreated.
Telorchis is a genus of trematode parasites found in many herps, comprising around 70 species. This parasite is an indirect parasite, with a snail intermediate host and a reptile or amphibian definitive host. Typically found in the gastrointestinal tract of their definitive host, telorchids attach to the wall of the intestinal tract with their ventral sucker, or acetabulum.
Labracetabulum is a genus of trematodes in the family Opecoelidae. Cribb's review of Labracetabulum synonymised it with Prolabria Reimer, 1987, which led to the synonymisation of P. monocentris Reimer, 1987 to L. monocentris Cribb, 2005.
| Authority control databases: National |
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