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Pentastomida

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Parasitology

  • 165 Accesses

Synonyms

Tongue worms

Name

Greek: pente  =  five, stoma  =  month

Classification

Phylum of Metazoa.

General Information

The zoological phylum Pentastomida includes exclusively dioecious endoparasites of a broad spectrum of animals. Also humans may become infected. Revision of the nomenclatural system led to the recent acception of one class (Eupentastomida), which now comprises four different orders:

  • Cephalobaenida (1)

  • Raillietiellida (2)

  • Reighardiida (3)

  • Porocephalida (4)

Until today there are 144 different species described, which show some relations to the members of the phylum Arthropoda.

At present there exist two different interpretations of a number of results.

  1. 1.

    There are striking similarities with certain crustaceans (Branchiura) concerning the morphology of sperms and ovaries and the mode of oogenesis. Together with the results of studies on the 18S rRNA and mitochondrial DNA, these findings seem to corroborate the placement of Pentastomida within the crustaceans as a sister...

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Further Reading

  • Almeida WO et al (2006) First record of Cephalobaena tetrapoda (Pentastomida: Cephalobaenida) as a parasite of Liophis lineatus (Ophidia: Colubridae) in Northeast Brazil. Braz J Biol 66:559–564

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christoffersen ML, De Assis JE (2013) A systematic monograph of the recent Pentastomida, with a compilation of their hosts. Zool Med Leiden 87:1–206

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  • Gjerde B (2013) Phylogenetic position of Linguatula arctica and Linguatula serrata (Pentastomida) as inferred from the nuclear 18S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene. Parasitol Res 112:3517–3525

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perreira WL et al (2010) Fatal infection in a captive Pithecia irrorata (primate) with Porocephalus sp. (Pentastomida). Vet Parasitol 173:358–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tappe B et al (2014) Imported Armillifer pentastomiasis: report of a symptomatic infection in The Netherlands and mini-review. Travel Med Infect Dis 12:129–133

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas G et al (1999) Considerations about the ontogenesis of Reighardia sternae in comparison to Raillietiella sp. (Pentastomida: Cephalobaenida). Parasitol Res 85:280–283

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Zellbiologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Building: 26.13 Floor/Room: U1.66, Universitätsstraße 1, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Volker Walldorf

Authors
  1. Volker Walldorf
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Volker Walldorf .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Zoomorphology and Parasitology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cite this entry

Walldorf, V. (2015). Pentastomida. In: Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parasitology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_2362-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27769-6_2362-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27769-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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