Paracanthocephaloides is a genus in Acanthocephala (thorny-headed worms, also known as spiny-headed worms).
Taxonomy The genus was described by Golvan in 1969. The National Center for Biotechnology Information does not indicate that any phylogenetic analysis has been published on any Paracanthocephaloides species that would confirm its position as a unique order in the family Arhythmacanthidae. P. chabanaudi is the type species.Biology of the Acanthocephala. D. W. T. Crompton, Brent B. Nickol. Cambridge University Press, 1985 - Science - 519 pages
Description Paracanthocephaloides species consist of a proboscis covered in hooks and a long trunk without spines.Amin, O. M., Oğuz, M. C., Heckmann, R. A., Tepe, Y., & Kvach, Y. (2011). Acanthocephaloides irregularis n. sp. (Acanthocephala: Arhythmacanthidae) from marine fishes off the Ukrainian Black Sea coast. Systematic parasitology, 80(2), 125.url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/38434620/Acanthoceph_irregularis_n._sp._Black_Sea.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DAcanthocephaloides_irregularis_n._sp._Ac.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20191223%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20191223T201218Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=b0aa9c1cf8d27a58d2f7f5bcef971b2fbd5d2ef33ac9722ec6194c21f80154b9 Species The genus Paracanthocephaloides Golvan, 1969 contains six species.
Paracanthocephaloides bartonae Smales, 2022Smales, L. R. (2022). A review of the Arhythmacanthidae (Acanthocephala) in Australia with the descriptions of a new genus and 6 new species. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 147(1), 69–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/03721426.2022.2141867 Found in Australia and has 14 to 16 rows of 3 large, 7 spiniform hooks on their proboscis. Paracanthocephaloides chabanaudi (Dollfus, 1951) Paracanthocephaloides hustoni Smales, 2022 Found in Australia and has 12 rows of five to six hooks, two of which are large, and three to four are spiniform. Paracanthocephaloides incrassatus (Molin, 1858) Meyer, 1932 Paracanthocephaloides shamsiae Smales, 2022 Found in Australia and has 12 rows of five to six hooks, two of which are large, and three to four are spiniform. Paracanthocephaloides tripathii Golvan, 1969
Distribution The distribution of Paracanthocephaloides is determined by that of its hosts.
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 Paracanthocephaloides are ???. 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 Paracanthocephaloides.
Paracanthocephaloides parasitizes animals. There are no reported cases of Paracanthocephaloides infesting humans in the English language medical literature.
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