Acanthocephala in The Journal of Parasitology , 1914 – 2014

The launch of The Journal of Parasitology (JP) by Henry Baldwin Ward in September 1914 was a historical landmark that witnessed the passage of the torch of acanthocephalan work, especially higher taxonomy, from Europe to the United States, with the excep-tion of the works of Anton Meyer, Yves Golvan, and a few Russian workers in the early twentieth century. At that juncture, there were only two primary English-language parasitological journals, i.e., The Journal of Parasitology and Parasitology. Research then was optical microscopy-based taxonomy work. There are now more than 30 parasitology-based journals with multiple sub-specialties because of rapidly advancing technologies. Advances in molecular and gene sequenc-ing techniques, especially over the last two decades, have helped resolve many taxonomic and evolutionary questions. The present paper is thematic and will address the JP contributions to resolving taxonomic, evolutionary, biological, behavioral, and related issues posed by the acanthocephalan challenge as models for parasitological research. The most notable observation is that taxo-nomic studies of Acanthocephala, whether such work utilized classical or molecular approaches, has been one of the most solid and consistent fields of study over the years. Life cycle, behavioral, seasonal, developmental, and related studies, like fads, seem to last for a few decades before they fade away, and are replaced by new approaches. Changes of emphasis, as well as progressive developments in technology, especially in the areas of gene sequencing, molecular, and evolutionary biology, account for most of these trends that also reflect world-wide patterns of intellectual interest. The two taxonomy sections below incorporate JP as well as other journal sources. All subsequent sections address only JP articles.