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 In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart an ...

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 ''Gongylonema'' is a genus of thread-like nematode that was described by Molin in 1857. It is the only currently valid genus in the family Gongylonematidae, though the mysterious '' Spiruroides'' – usually placed in the Subuluridae, which are ...

'', 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 The Camallanida are an order of nematodes. They are parasites of terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates. They also use copepods as obligatory secondary hosts. They are sometimes included in the Spirurida as a suborder Camallanina. Description ...

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