The Taeniidae are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

tapeworm Eucestoda, commonly referred to as tapeworms, is the larger of the two subclasses of flatworms in the class Cestoda (the other subclass being Cestodaria). Larvae have six posterior hooks on the scolex (head), in contrast to the ten-hooked Ce ...

s. It is the largest family representing the order Cyclophyllidea. It includes many species of medical and veterinary importance, as ''

Taenia solium ''Taenia solium'', the pork tapeworm, belongs to the cyclophyllid cestode family Taeniidae. It is found throughout the world and is most common in countries where pork is eaten. It is a tapeworm that uses humans (''Homo sapiens'') as its definit ...

'' (pork tapeworm), '' Taenia saginata'' (beef tapeworm), and ''

Echinococcus granulosus ''Echinococcus granulosus'', also called the hydatid worm or dog tapeworm, is a cyclophyllid cestode that dwells in the small intestine of canids as an adult, but which has important intermediate hosts such as livestock and humans, where it caus ...

''. The Taeniidae are parasites of

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

and many are infectious to humans.

Taxonomy

The family includes four genera: *'' Echinococcus'' Rudolphi, 1801 *'' Hydatigera'' Lamarck, 1816 *'' Taenia'' Linnaeus, 1758 *'' Versteria'' Nakao, Lavikainen, Iwaki, Haukisalmi, Konyaev, Oku, Okamoto & Ito, 2013

Life cycle

Taeniidae parasites are distinguished by their terrestrial lifecycles, which include a dormant stage called a metacestode. These develop in the intermediate host's tissue when eggs are consumed. The eggs hatch into an oncosphere, which passes through the intestinal wall and forms the metacestode. An example is either cysticercoid, cysticercus, or a hydatid cyst. The definitive host is infected when the metacestode is consumed.

References

Cestoda Platyhelminthes families {{parasitic animal-stub