Bucephalidae
| Bucephalidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cercaria larva of Bucephalus polymorphus from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Class: | Trematoda |
| Subclass: | Digenea |
| Order: | Strigeidida |
| Superfamily: | Bucephaloidea |
| Family: | Bucephalidae Poche, 1907 |
| Genera[1] | |
| |
Bucephalidae is a family of trematode flatworms that parasitize fish. They lack suckers, having instead a muscular organ called a "rhynchus" at the front end which they use to attach to their hosts. The characteristics of the rhynchus are used to help define the genera of the family.[2] It is one of the largest digenean families, with 25 genera containing hundreds of described species.[3] Bucephalids are cosmopolitan, having been recorded all over the world. They are parasites of fish from freshwater, marine, and brackish water habitat types.[3]
The name Bucephalus, meaning "ox head", was originally applied to the genus Bucephalus because of the horn-like appearance of the forked tail (furcae) of its cercaria larva. By what Manter calls a "curious circumstance", horns are also suggested by the long tentacles of adult worms.[4]
These flatworms typically occur in teleost fishes as sexually reproducing adults. In their intermediate hosts, which include mollusks and at least one amphibian, they occur as asexually reproducing stages.[5]
The characteristic feature is an anterior rhyncus or holdfast that is separate from the digestive system. They also differ from other digeneans in the configuration of the digestive systems and genitalia.[6] The intestine is simple and saccular; they have no acetabulum.
References
- ↑ "WoRMS taxon details: Bucephalidae". WoRMS. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
- ↑ Hassanine, R. M. E. (2002). On three digenean trematodes (Family Bucephalidae) from marine teleost fishes with new record from the Red Sea. Eygpt. J. Aquat. Biol & Fish. 6(3) 1-16.
- 1 2 Muñoz, G. and N. J. Bott. (2011). A new species of Prosorhynchoides (Trematoda, Bucephalidae) from the intertidal rocky zone of central Chile. Acta Parasitologica 56(2), 140-46.
- ↑ Manter, H. W. (1940). "Digenetic trematodes of fishes from the Galapagos Islands and the neighboring Pacific". Reports on the Collections obtained by Allan Hancock Pacific Expeditions, 1932-1938 2 (14): 333. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ↑ Bott, N. J. "Bivalves and the Bucephalidae: A parasitic system on the Great Barrier Reef". PhD Thesis. University of Queensland. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ↑ Gibson, D. I. (2002). Keys to the Trematoda. CABI. p. 67. ISBN 0-85199-547-0.