Specimen image via iDigBio
Mediorhynchus
Sign in to saveMediorhynchus is a genus of small parasitic spiny-headed (or thorny-headed) worms. Phylogenetic analysis has been conducted on two known species of Mediorhynchus and confirmed the placement along with the related genus Gigantorhynchus in the family Gigantorhynchida. The distinguishing features of this order among archiacanthocephalans is a divided proboscis (specifically, the presence of a "teloboscis" which is the posterior third of a proboscis). This genus contains fifty-eight species that are distributed globally. These worms exclusively parasitize birds by attaching themselves around the c
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumAcanthocephala
- ClassArchiacanthocephala
- OrderGigantorhynchida
- FamilyGiganthorhynchidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 54
- With media
- 3
- Family
- Giganthorhynchidae
- Collections
- USNM, MSB
- Recorded in
- United States, Canada, India, China, Peru, Mexico, Trinidad And Tobago, Sweden
~24 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Description
- Species
- Hosts
- Notes
- References
Mediorhynchus is a genus of small parasitic spiny-headed (or thorny-headed) worms. Phylogenetic analysis has been conducted on two known species of Mediorhynchus and confirmed the placement along with the related genus Gigantorhynchus in the family Gigantorhynchida. The distinguishing features of this order among archiacanthocephalans is a divided proboscis (specifically, the presence of a "teloboscis" which is the posterior third of a proboscis). This genus contains fifty-eight species that are distributed globally. These worms exclusively parasitize birds by attaching themselves around the cloaca using their hook-covered proboscis. The bird hosts are of different orders.
==Taxonomy==
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mediorhynchus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.