Adult acanthocephalan body sizes vary interspecifically over more than two orders of magnitude; yet, despite its importance for our understanding of the coevolutionary links between hosts and parasites, this variation remains unexplained. Here, we used a comparative analysis to investigate how final adult sizes and relative increments in size following establishment in the definitive host are i...

The acanthocephalan fauna of Iran is reported for the first time since the report of Pomphorhynchus perforator (von Linstow, 1908) Meyer, 1932 in 1964. The knowledge of the acanthocephalan biodiversity of Iran, with parasite-host and host-parasite checklists, is presented. The species of Acanthocephala are presented in alphabetical order, followed by the species of hosts, localities and referen...

Aim Little is known about phylogeography and cryptic diversity of parasites in the marine environment. The acanthocephalan Profilicollis altmani parasitizes intermediate hosts that are broadly distributed around the Americas and final hosts that are highly motile. We investigated the spatial genetic structure of this acanthocephalan found in three species of Emerita crabs: (1) to test whether l...

Few endoparasite species are pigmented. Acanthocephalans are an exception however, with several species being characterised by yellow to orange colouration both at the immature (cystacanth) and adult stages. However, the functional and adaptive significance of carotenoid-based colourations in acanthocephalans remains unclear. One possibility is that the carotenoid content of acanthocephalan cys...

With the devaluing of skills morphological taxonomists misidentification parasites appears to be increasing. In this paper examples from acanthocephalan literature are reported. The need for taxonomic expertise is emphasised including importance examining specimens.

Host-parasite interactions of Pomphorhynchus laevis (Müller, 1776) in naturally infected amphipod, Echinogammarus stammeri (Karaman), from the Brenta River (northern Italy) are described. A fully developed acanthocephalan larva occupies a large portion of an amphipod's haemocoelic space; thus, the parasite frequently induces displacement of host digestive tract and other internal organs. Howeve...

Parasite survival in hosts mainly depends on the capacity to circumvent the host immune response. Acanthocephalan infections in gammarids are linked with decreased activity of the prophenoloxidase (ProPO) system, suggesting an active immunosuppression process. Nevertheless, experimental evidence for this hypothesis is lacking: whether these parasites affect several immune pathways is unknown an...

Acanthocephalan everted cystacanths were detected in the intestines of 61 out of 555 feral raccoons (Procyon lotor) trapped between May 2003 and April 2005 in the western region of mainland Japan (Honshu). All collected specimens were identified as the species of birds including 3 Centrorhynchus species (C. bazaleticus, C. elongatus, and C. teres), Sphaerirostris lanceoides, Plagiorhynchus ogat...