Body size varies from minute (less than 1 mm) to 20 meters long. Scolex with 4 suckers, with or without rostellar apparatus. Rostellum, if present, may be armed or unarmed. From 2-3 to more than 1,000 proglottids. Genital pores typically lateral (only Mesocestodididae have median pores). Hermaphroditic as a rule, only Dioecocestidae are dioecious. One or 2 sets of reproductive organs in each proglottid. Testes one to several hundred. Vitellarium posterior to ovary, compact. Uterine pore lacking.
Most taxonomically diverse order of cestodes; includes 14-18 families, 380-400 genera and more than 3,000 species.
Among the most phylogenetically derived order of cestodes, together with Nippotaeniidea and Tetrabothriidea forming the crown of the tapeworm phylogenetic tree.
Tetrapods, mostly birds and mammals.
Intestine, rarely other parts of the digestive system.
Cosmopolitan.
Two- or 3-host life-cycle, with invertebrates or vertebrates as intermediate hosts. Some species are capable of paratenic parasitism in vertebrates.
Selected References:
Hoberg, E. P., Jones, A. and R. A. Bray. 1999. Phylogenetic analysis among the families of the Cyclophyllidea (Eucestoda) based on comparative morphology, with new hypotheses for co-evolution in vertebrates. Systematic Parasitology 42: 51-73. PDF
Hoberg, E. P., J. Mariaux and D. R. Brooks. 2001. Phylogeny among orders of the Eucestoda (Cercomeromorphae): integrating morphology, molecules and total evidence. In Interrelationships of the Platyhelminthes, D. J. T. Littlewood and R. A. Bray (eds). Taylor & Francis, London, U. K., pp. 112-126. PDF
Jones, A., R. A. Bray, and L. F. Khalil. 1994. Order Cyclophyllidea (diagnosis and key to families). In Keys to the Cestode Parasites of Vertebrates, L. F. Khalil, A. Jones, and R. A. Bray (eds). CAB International, Wallingford, U.K., pp. 305-307. PDF
Schmidt, G. D. 1986. CRC Handbook of tapeworm identification. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 675 pp. PDF
Wardle, R. A. and J. A. McLeod. 1952. The Zoology of Tapeworms. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 780 pp. PDF
Taxon Coordinator:
Dr. Boyko B. Georgiev
Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
2 Gagarin Street
1113 Sofia
Bulgaria
PHONE: (+359 2) 8717 195
E-MAIL: boyko_georgiev@yahoo.com
