ANOPLOCEPHALID CESTODES OF VETERINARY AND MEDICAL SIGNIFICANCE - A REVIEW

Cestodes of the family Anoplocephalidae Cholodkovsky, 1902, in their a dult form, parasitize a variety of hosts, including reptiles, birds an d mammals. To complete their life cycle, an intermediate host is requi red. This study gives a critical review of the life cycles of genera p rincipally important to veterinary medicine (but sporadically infectin g man): Anoplocephalinae (Anoplocephala, Anoplocephaloides, Bertiella and Moniezia) and Thysanosomatinae (Avitellina, Stilesia, Thysaniezia and Thysanosoma), using data reported by others and our own observatio ns. The accepted paradigm on the biology of the anoplocephalid cestode s is that oribatid mites (Acarina) serve as intermediate hosts. Howeve r, as regards the genera Avitellina, Thysaniezia and Thysanosoma, it i s still unclear whether oribatid mites are indeed the intermediate hos ts, as larval forms (cysticercoids) have also been found in collembola ns and psocids. Using the controversial biological cycle of Thysanosom a actinioides (Diesing, 1834), a theoretical methodological research p roposal for parasitology was constructed which attempts to define a co nceptional mark enabling us to predict and explain the parasite-hosts' related phenomenon. Aspects of this proposal are discussed using the biology of the cestodes of family Anoplocephalidae, as examples.