Parasite systematics in the 21st century: opportunities and obstacles

Taxonomic names and phylogenetic hypotheses are indispensable tools for mod em biological research, both bash. and applied. Like all disciplines, paras itology suffers from the 'taxonomic impediment' - a global shortage of prof essional taxonomists and systematists. Only a fraction of the species of pa rasites on this planet have been identified, and the evolutionary relations hips of only a minority of those are understood; thus, information on how t o manage parasite biodiversity, including known and potential disease agent s, is incomplete. A renewal of systematic parasitology has a key role in re defining the relationship between mankind and the organisms whose biology f ascinates us so much.