Biology:Wolffhugelia
Wolffhugelia is a monotypic genus of acanthocephalans (thorny-headed or spiny-headed parasitic worms) containing a single species, Wolffhugelia matercula, that infests animals.
Taxonomy
The species was described by Mane-Garzon and Dei-Cas in 1974.[1] The National Center for Biotechnology Information does not indicate that any phylogenetic analysis has been published on Wolffhugelia that would confirm its position as a unique genus in the family Neoechinorhynchidae.[2]
Description
Wolffhugelia matercula consists of a proboscis covered in hooks and a trunk.
Distribution
The distribution of W. matercula is determined by that of its hosts. It is from Uruguay.[1]
Hosts
The life cycle of an acanthocephalan consists of three stages beginning when an infective acanthor (development of an egg) is released from the intestines of the definitive host and then ingested by an arthropod, the intermediate host. Although the intermediate hosts of Wolffhugelia are not known, they are always arthropods. When the acanthor molts, the second stage called the acanthella begins. This stage involves penetrating the wall of the mesenteron or the intestine of the intermediate host and growing. The final stage is the infective cystacanth which is the larval or juvenile state of an Acanthocephalan, differing from the adult only in size and stage of sexual development. The cystacanths within the intermediate hosts are consumed by the definitive host, usually attaching to the walls of the intestines, and as adults they reproduce sexually in the intestines. The acanthor is passed in the feces of the definitive host and the cycle repeats. There may be paratenic hosts (hosts where parasites infest but do not undergo larval development or sexual reproduction) for Wolffhugelia.[5]
W. matercula parasitizes a onesided livebearer (Jenynsia lineata).[1] There are no reported cases of W. matercula infesting humans in the English language medical literature.[4]
Notes
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedMane-Garzon1974 - ↑ Schoch, Conrad L; Ciufo, Stacy; Domrachev, Mikhail; Hotton, Carol L; Kannan, Sivakumar; Khovanskaya, Rogneda; Leipe, Detlef; Mcveigh, Richard et al. (2020). "NCBI Taxonomy: a comprehensive update on curation, resources and tools.". Database: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation. doi:10.1093/database/baaa062. PMID 32761142. PMC 7408187. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=60528. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
- ↑ CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria (April 11, 2019). "Acanthocephaliasis". Center for Disease Control. https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/acanthocephaliasis/index.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mathison, BA (November 2021). "Human Acanthocephaliasis: A Thorn in the Side of Parasite Diagnostics". J Clin Microbiol 59 (11): e02691-20. doi:10.1128/JCM.02691-20. PMID 34076470.
- ↑ Schmidt, G.D. (1985). "Development and life cycles". Biology of the Acanthocephala. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 273–305. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/17218255.pdf. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
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