Order DIPHYLLIDEA van Beneden in Carus, 1863

Echinobothrium chisholmae [from Jones & Beveridge, 2001]

© Copyright Ian Beveridge. Melbourne University.

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Introduction

The Diphyllidea is a small order of cestodes of elasmobranch fishes characterised by the possession of two bothridia, a cephalic peduncle, a ventral genital atrium, and vitelline follicles either scattered or in lateral bands (Khalil 1994). Previously restricted to a single genus, Echinobothrium van Beneden, 1849, the order now consists of three families, each with a single genus. Echinobothriidae Perrier, 1897 contains Echinobothrium, while Ditrachybothriidae Schmidt, 1970 was erected for the genus Ditrachybothridium Rees, 1959 and Macrobothriidae Khalil & Abdul-Salam, 1989 was erected for the genus Macrobothridium Khalil & Abdul-Salam, 1989. A cladistic analysis of the order (Ivanov & Hoberg 1999) suggests that Macrobothridium should be included within the genus Echinobothrium, but this change has not been made formally.

Only the genus Echinobothrium has been reported formally from Australia. However, Caira et al. (1999) reported an unidentified species of Macrobothridium from Darwin, indicating the presence of the family in Australian waters and specimens of Ditrachybothridium from Australian hosts are present in collections of the South Australian Museum, Adelaide. Consequently, the representation of this order in Australian waters is much greater than indicated by the species list presented below.

General References

Caira, J.N., Jensen, K. & Healy, C.J. 1999. On the phylogenetic relationships among tetraphyllidean, lecanicephalidean and diphyllidean tapeworm genera. Systematic Parasitology 42: 77-151

Ivanov, V.A. & Hoberg, E.P. 1999. Preliminary comments on a phylogenetic study of the order Diphyllidea van Beneden in Carus, 1863. Systematic Parasitology 42: 21-27

Khalil, L.F. 1994. Order Diphyllidea Van Beneden in Carus, 1863. pp. 45-49 in Khalil, L.F., Jones, A. & Bray, R.A. (eds). Keys to the Cestode Parasites of Vertebrates. Wallingford, UK : Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux International 751 pp.