HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE PHYLUM SYNDERMATA (AHLRICHS 1997)
| EUKARYA> UNIKONTA> OPISTHOKONTA> ANIMALIA> BILATERIA> PROTOSTOMATA> SPIRALIA> PLATYZOA> GNATHIFERA> SYNDERMATA |
SYNDERMATA LINKS
| Taxonomy of the phylum based on the system of Ruppert and Barnes (1991) and Meglitsch and Schram (1991). Brusca and Brusca (2003) place the Seisonidea and Bdelloidea as orders under the Class Digonata, which is defined by the presence of paired ovaries. The descriptions of the taxa are taken from Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Barnes (1984), Brusca and Brusca (2003), Hickman (1973), Ruppert and Barnes (1991) and Meglitsch and Schram (1991). |
CLASS MONOGONATA (3 ORDERS)
- Body form variable; single ovary; male (if present) smaller than female and has single testis; no more than 2 toes per foot.
- Notommata, Proales, Polyarthra, Synchaeta, Chronogaster, Gastropus, Brachionus, Asplanchna, Euchlanis, Keratella, Conochilus, Floscularia, Hexarthra, Testudinella, Stephanoceros, Collotheca, Epiphanes
CLASS SEISONIDEA (1 ORDER)
- Large, marine; living on gills of the crustacean, Nebalia. Body elongate with vestigial corona; males fully developed.
- Seison.
CLASS BDELLOIDEA (1 ORDER)
- Mainly freshwater; body vermiform, can contract by telescoping; corona in 2 wheels (trochal disks); 2 ovaries; foot retractable with up to 4 toes; parthenogenetic.
- Philodina, Embata, Rotaria, Adineta.
CLASS ACANTHOCEPHALA
- Parasites of vertebrate intestines as adults, larval stages (acanthor, acanthella, and cystacanth) usually in arthropods. Without digestive tract or trophi. (3 Subclasses)
- SUBCLASS ARCHIACANTHOCEPHALA (4 ORDERS)
- Parasites of birds and mammals with terrestrial arthropods (centipedes, millipedes, and insects) as intermediate hosts. No trunk spines. Main lacunar canals dorsal and ventral (or only dorsal).
- Macrocanthorhynchus, Moniliformis, Oligacanthorhynchus.
- Parasites of birds and mammals with terrestrial arthropods (centipedes, millipedes, and insects) as intermediate hosts. No trunk spines. Main lacunar canals dorsal and ventral (or only dorsal).
- SUBCLASS EOCANTHOCEPHALA (2 ORDERS)
- Parasites of fish, amphibians and reptiles with crustaceans as the intermediate hosts. Some with trunk spines. Main lacunar canals dorsal and ventral.
- Neochinorhynchus, Pallisentis, Bolbosoma.
- Parasites of fish, amphibians and reptiles with crustaceans as the intermediate hosts. Some with trunk spines. Main lacunar canals dorsal and ventral.
- SUBCLASS PALEACANTHOCEPHALA (2 ORDERS)
- Parasites of all vertebrate groups usually with crustaceans as intermediate hosts. Some with trunk spines. Main lacunar canals lateral. The largest group of acanthocephalans.
- Acanthocephalus, Centrorhynchus, Corynosoma, Echinorhynchus, Leptorhynchoides, Polymorphus.
- Parasites of all vertebrate groups usually with crustaceans as intermediate hosts. Some with trunk spines. Main lacunar canals lateral. The largest group of acanthocephalans.
| LITERATURE CITED Barnes, R. D. 1980. Invertebrate Zoology. Saunders College/Holt, Rinehart and Wilson, Philadelphia. Barnes. R. S. K. 1984a. Kingdom Animalia. IN: R. S. K. Barnes, ed. A Synoptic Classification of Living Organisms. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, MA. pp. 129-257. Brusca, R. C. and G. J. Brusca. 2003. Invertebrates. Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, Mass. Buchsbaum, R. 1938. Animals Without Backbones, An Introduction to the Invertebrates. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago. Garcia-Varela, M. and S. A. Nadler. 2006. Phylogenetic relationships among Syndermata inferred from nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 40: 61-72. Garey, J. R., A. Schmidt-Rhaesa, T. J. Near, and S. A. Nadler. 1998. The evolutionary relationships of rotifers and acanthocephalans. Hydrobiologia 387:83-91. Hickman, C. P. 1973. Biology of the Invertebrates. The C. V. Mosby Company. Saint Louis. Kristensen, R. M. 2002. An introduction to Loricifera, Cycliophora, and Micrognathozoa. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 42: 641-651. Kristensen, R. M. and P. Funch. 2000. Micrognathozoa: A new class with complicated jaws like those of Rotifera and Gnathostomulida. Journal of Morphology. 246: 1-49. Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1998. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 3rd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Company. New York. Meglitsch, P. A. and F. R. Schramm. 1991. Invertebrate Zoology. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford. Nielsen, C. 2001. Animal Evolution: Interrelationships of the Living Phyla. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press. Oxford. Rieger, R. M. and S. Tyler. 1995. Sister-group relationship of Gnathostomulida and Rotifera-Acanthocephala. Invertebrate Biology. 114: 186-188. Ruppert, E. E. and R. D. Barnes. 1994. Invertebrate Zoology. 6th edition. Saunders. Ft Worth, TX. Ruppert, E. E., R. S. Fox, and R. D. Barnes. 2004. Invertebrate Zoology: A Functional Evolutionary Approach. Seventh Edition. Thomson, Brooks/Cole. New York. pp. 1-963. Sorenson, M. V., H. Segers, and P. Funch. 2005. On a new Seison Grube, 1861 from coastal waters of Kenya, with a reappraisal of the classification of the Seisonida (Rotifera). Zoological Studies. 44(1): 34-43. Storer, T. I. and R. L. Usinger. 1965. General Zoology. 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill Book Company. New York. Tudge, C. 2000. The Variety of Life, A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures That Have Ever Lived. Oxford University Press. New York. Zrzavy, J. 2001. The interrelationships of metazoan parasites: a review of phylum- and higher-level hypotheses from recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. Folia Parasitologica. 48:81-103. |
| By Jack R. Holt and Carlos A. Iudica. Last revised: 01/29/2012 |
