Heteracanthocephalidae is a family of parasitic worms from the order
Echinorhynchida
Echinorhynchida is an Order (biology), order of parasitic worms in the phylum Acanthocephala. It contains 13 known families:
*Arhythmacanthidae Yamaguti, 1935
*Cavisomidae Meyer, 1932
*Diplosentidae Tubangui and Masiluñgan, 1937
*Echinorhynchida ...
.
Species
Heteracanthocephalidae contains two subfamilies (Aspersentinae and Heteracanthocephalinae) and the following species:
Aspersentinae Golvan, 1960
''Aspersentis''
Van Cleave, 1929
*''Aspersentis austrinus''
Van Cleave, 1929
*''Aspersentis dissosthychi''
(Parukhin, 1989)
*''Aspersentis johni''
(Bayliss, 1929)
''A. johni'' was found parasitizing ''
Patagonotothen longipes
''Patagonotothen'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, belonging to the family Nototheniidae, the notothens or cod icefishes. They are native to the southeast Pacific Ocean, southern Atlantic Ocean and the Southern Ocean.
Taxonomy
''Patagon ...
'' and ''
Champsocephalus esox
''Champsocephalus esox'', the pike icefish or northern icefish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Channichthyidae, the crocodile icefishes.
Taxonomy
''Champsocephalus esox'' was first formally described in 1861 as '' ...
'' in the eastern mouth of the
Beagle Channel
Beagle Channel (; Yahgan language, Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego, Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. The channel separates the larger main island of I ...
.
[Laskowski, Z., & Zdzitowiecki, K. (2009). Occurrence of acanthocephalans in notothenioid fishes in the Beagle Channel (Magellanic sub-region, sub-Antarctic). Polish Polar Research, 30(2), 179-186. ulr=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zdzislaw_Laskowski/publication/264196052_Occurrence_of_acanthocephalans_in_notothenioid_fishes_in_the_Beagle_Channel_Magellanic_sub-region_sub-Antarctic/links/53d18b180cf2a7fbb2e8782c/Occurrence-of-acanthocephalans-in-notothenioid-fishes-in-the-Beagle-Channel-Magellanic-sub-region-sub-Antarctic.pdf]
*''Aspersentis megarhynchus''
(von Linstow, 1892)
*''Aspersentis minor''
Edmonds and Smales, 1992
*''Aspersentis peltorhamphi''
(Baylis, 1944)
*''Aspersentis zanclorhynchi''
(Johnston and Best, 1937)
Heteracanthocephalinae Petrochenko, 1956
''Bullockrhynchus''
Chandra, Hanumantha-Rao & Shyamasundari, 1985
*''Bullockrhynchus indicus''
Chandra, Hanumantha-Rao & Shyamasundari, 1985
''Sachalinorhynchus''
Krotov and Petrochenko, 1956
*''Sachalinorhynchus skrjabini''
Krotov and Petrochenko, 1956
Molecular characterization
In 2024, the complete
mitochondrial genome
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...
of ''Aspersentis megarhynchus'' was sequenced and annotated for the first time. This was the first mitogenomic data for the genus ''Aspersentis'' and also for the family Heteracanthocephalidae. The mitogenome of ''A. megarhynchus'' has 14,661 bp and includes 36 genes, containing 12
protein-coding genes
The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as the DNA within each of the 23 distinct chromosomes in the cell nucleus. A small DNA molecule is found within individual mitochondria. These are usually treated s ...
(missing atp8), 22 tRNA genes, and 2 ribosomal RNAs (rrnS and rrnL), plus two non-coding regions.
A phylogenetic analysis suggested close affinity between the Heteracanthocephalidae and the
Echinorhynchidae
Echinorhynchidae, from Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος (''ekhînos''), meaning "hedgehog", and ῥύγχος (''rhúnkhos''), meaning "snout", is a family of acanthocephalan parasitic worms from the order Echinorhynchida. The adult worms live in the ...
within the order Echinorhynchida.
Notes
References
Echinorhynchida
Acanthocephala families
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