Polymorphidae

Taxobox
name = Polymorphidae


image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Corynosoma wegeneri"
regnum = Animalia
subregnum = Eumetazoa
unranked_phylum = Bilateria
superphylum = Platyzoa

phylum = Acanthocephala
classis = Palaeacanthocephala
ordo = Polymorphida
familia = Polymorphidae
ordo_authority = Meyer, 1931
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = About 10, see text
synonyms =Filicollidae Petrochenko, 1956

The thorny-headed worm family Polymorphidae contains endoparasites which as adults feed mainly in fish and aquatic birds. When this taxon was erected by Meyer in 1931, a subfamily Polymorphinae was established in it. As the Polymorphidae as presently understood would then be monotypic, with no basal genera outside the Polymorphinae, the proposed subfamily is redundant for the time being and therefore most modern treatments simply omit it.

"Polymorphus minutus" is an economically significant parasite in goose and duck farming.

Genera

* "Andracantha" Schmidt, 1975
* "Ardeirhynchus" Dimitrova & Georgiev, 1994 - tentatively placed here
* "Arhythmorhynchus" Lühe, 1911
* "Bolbosoma" Porta, 1908
* "Corynosoma" Lühe, 1904
* "Diplospinifer" Fukui, 1929
* "Filicollis" Lühe, 1911
* "Polymorphus" Lühe, 1911
* "Profilicollis" Meyer, 1931
* "Southwellina" Witenberg, 1932 - might belong in "Arhythmorhynchus"

External links

* [http://insects.tamu.edu/research/collection/hallan/Acanthocephala/Family/Polymorphidae.txt Polymorphidae taxon list]