Spirurida falls under the phylum

Nematoda The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitism, parasitic. Parasitic ...

class

Chromadorea The Chromadorea are a class of the roundworm phylum, Nematoda. They contain a single subclass (Chromadoria) and several orders. With such a redundant arrangement, the Chromadoria are liable to be divided if the orders are found to form several c ...

and order Rhabditida. They are characterized by their elongated, cylindrical bodies and unsegmented structure. Like all nematodes, they have neither a circulatory nor a

respiratory system The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies grea ...

. Some Spirurida, like the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Gongylonema'', can cause disease in humans. One such disease is a skin infection with Spirurida larvae, called " creeping disease". Some species are known as eyeworms and infect the orbital cavity of animal hosts.

Systematics

The Camallanida are sometimes included herein as a

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

, and the Drilonematida are sometimes placed here as a superfamily. There are doubts about the internal systematics of the Spirurida, and some groups placed herein might belong to other spirurian or even

secernentea Secernentea was a class (biology), class of nematodes in the Classical Phylogeny System (Chitwood, 1958) and is no longer in use. This morphological-based classification system has been replaced by the Modern Phylogeny system, where taxonomy assi ...

n lineages.ToL (2002) The following superfamilies are at least provisionally placed in the Spirurida: * Acuarioidea * Aproctoidea * Diplotriaenoidea *

Filarioidea The Filarioidea are a Taxonomic rank, superfamily of highly Generalist and specialist species, specialised Parasitism, parasitic nematodes. Species within this superfamily are known as filarial worms or filariae (singular filaria). Infections wit ...

* Gnathostomatoidea * Habronematoidea * Physalopteroidea * Rictularioidea * Spiruroidea * Thelazioidea

Systematics

References

Citations

Sources

External links