What are the classes of acanthocephala?
Acanthocephala consists of the three classes Archiacanthocephala, Eoacanthocephala, and Palaeacanthocephala. All members are bilaterally symmetrical and cylindrical in shape. The adults live in the intestines of vertebrates and the larvae (acanthor) live in the tissues of crustaceans and insects.
Is acanthocephala segmented?
more than 1200 species. Characteristics of the Phylum: 1. Un-segmented, worm-like, parasitic aschelminthes.
What are the characteristics of acanthocephala?
Characteristics of Acanthocephala: Body cavity is a pseudocoelom. Body possesses no digestive system. Body covered by a syncitial epidermis with a few giant nuclei. Has a nervous system with a ganglion and paired nerves.
What is the common name of acanthocephala?
spiny-headed worms
Integrated Taxonomic Information System – Report
| Common Name(s): | spiny-headed worms [English] |
| acantocéfalo [Portuguese] | |
| thorny-headed worms [English] | |
| Taxonomic Status: | |
| Current Standing: | valid |
How many species of Acanthocephala are there?
1100
The phylum Acanthocephala comprises more than 1100 valid species. Bony fishes are the most exploited group of vertebrate Acanthocephalan hosts, followed by birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.
Is Acanthocephala a nematode?
The helminths include Acanthocephala, the thorny or spiny-headed worms; Nemathelminthes or nematodes, the round-worms; and Platyhelminthes, the flatworms.
How many species are in Acanthocephala?
Where are Acanthocephala found?
small intestines
Acanthocephala (Thorny-Headed Worms). Adults live within the small intestines. They have a retractable proboscis armed with spines that is inserted into the mucosa as a holdfast. They have separate sexes and lack a digestive system. Acanthocephalans have indirect life cycles.
Are Acanthocephala all parasitic?
Palaeacanthocephala
ArchiacanthocephalaEoacanthocephalaRhadinorhynchidae
Acanthocephala/Lower classifications
How many species are in acanthocephala?
Where are acanthocephala found?
What type of animal is a Acanthocephala?
parasitic worms
Acanthocephala /əˌkænθoʊˈsɛfələ/ (Greek ἄκανθος, akanthos, thorn + κεφαλή, kephale, head) is a phylum of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to pierce and hold the gut wall of its …
[Acanthocephala; Gk. acantha = thorn + kephale = head, or called thorny-headed worms]. Approx. more than 1200 species.
What are the hosts of the acanthocephalan phylum?
Acanthocephalans have complex life cycles, involving at least two hosts, which may include invertebrates, fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals. About 1420 species have been described. The Acanthocephala were thought to be a discrete phylum.
How are acanthocephalans different from other parasitic worms?
There are several morphological characteristics that distinguish acanthocephalans from other phyla of parasitic worms. Acanthocephalans lack a mouth or alimentary canal. This is a feature they share with the cestoda (tapeworms), although the two groups are not closely related.
How is the Acanthocephala related to the rotifers?
Phylogenetic analysis of the 18S ribosomal gene has revealed that the Acanthocephala are most closely related to the rotifers. They are possibly closer to the two rotifer classes Bdelloidea and Monogononta than to the other class, Seisonidea, producing the names and relationships shown in the cladogram below.