Phylum Platyhelminthes

4 principal types of flatworms

divided into 4 taxonomic Groups
Class Turbellaria

>3,000 free-living spp

some commensal
a few parasitic forms
Aquatic, few on land
Body architecture adapted
to a free-living lifestyle
 Class Monogenea

~ 400 spp
mostly ectoparasites of P
fish, amphibians.
Feed on blood, mucus..
haptors
Anterior and posterior A
ends for clinging, but life
cycle remains simple, with
a single free living larval
stage
Class Trematoda: flukes

> 6000 spp of endoparasites (liver, lungs, blood, muscles)

Body and life cycle adapted to parasitic existence.

Ventral sucker
Oral sucker
Class Cestoda: tapeworms
> 3500 spp of endoparsites, almost all intestinal parasites
with highly specialized body and life cycle.

scolex

9 ft tapeworm from human host

Largest in sperm whale was over 30 meters long
There is currently a debate between scientists about the position of
comb jellies and sponges in the tree of animal life. What is the basis
for this debate, and why is it important to our understanding of the
evolution of several important animal organ systems?
 Characteristics of the Phylum
Bilateral symmetry
Triploblastic
 Characteristics of the Phylum
Bilaterally symmetry
Triploblastic
Unsegmented
Acoelomate
 Characteristics of the Phylum
Bilaterally symmetry
Triploblastic
Unsegmented
Acoelomate
Organ Systems

Digestive System
 Characteristics of the Phylum
Bilaterally symmetrical
Triploblastic
Unsegmented
Acoelomate
Organ Systems

Excretory System
W/ Ultrafiltration and selective absorption
 Characteristics of the Phylum
Bilaterally symmetrical
Triploblastic
Unsegmented
Acoelomate
Organ Systems
Complex reprod. System
Regenerative capacities
 Most Widely Accepted Phylogeny of the Major
Flatworm Classes
Cestoda

Neodermata
(endoparasitic)

Monogenea
(ectoparasitic)

Trematoda
(endoparasitic)

Turbellaria
-- Parasitic groups considered to be monophyletic and
constitute a grouping known as the Neodermata
Synapomorphies: new skin, obligate parasitism,
protonephridia from two cells
No synapomorphies for the phylum; thought to be
polyphyletic?
Problems Posed by Endoparasitic Existence
Problems Posed by Endoparasitic Existence

•Reproduce and get embryos out of the host

•Contact new, appropriate host and obtain entrance
•Locate appropriate environment in the new host
•Maintain position in the host, withstand often
anaerobic conditions and attack by immune system

•Avoid killing the host, at least until

reproduction has been completed
In all Neodermata, epidermis is shed, and replaced by
a syncitial tegument.
 The body wall is a tegument with extensive
microvillar surface area

Monogenean tegument Cestode tegument

Advantages to having
a tegument?
Class Cestoidea: primarily the tapeworms
• Body in segments called proglottids -formed behind the
small head and continue to grow until released
• Mouth, digestive system lacking
• Scolex attachment structure
• Tegument highly folded with microvillar extensions
• Hermaphrodites

Intestinal
Parasites,
commonly on
vertebrates
•Relatively simple
•Passive dispersal
•Reproduction is
primarily sexual

oncosphere
Cystecercoids (especially from the pork tapeworm Taenia
solium) can accidentally end up in other parts of a body,
especially in accidental hosts such as humans when they
ingest eggs
•Relatively simple
•Passive dispersal
•Reproduction is
primarily sexual

oncosphere
oncosphere
Hydatosis of the Liver
 Class Trematoda:
all endoparasites in blood, liver, gut
distinguished by presence of ventral sucker
(acetabulum), mouth and highly branched G-V Cavity

Usually 2 intermediate hosts, at least one being a

mollusc; the final host is a vertebrate
 Class Ex.
Trematoda: Chinese
Liver
Common in China, Korea Fluke
Japan, where practice
of eating uncooked
fish is common

Adults live in the liver

and bile passages

Clonorchis sinensis
 Class Trematoda:
Schistosoma mansoni

A snail
is usually
the
intermediate
Host
 Class Trematoda:
Schistosome life cycles
are unusual
in several ways
-- One intermediate host
Eggs pass through blood vessel
into gut, and out….
Or they lodge in nervous tissue,
muscles, other organs, causing
excrutiating pain &tissue damage.

-- Have Separate Sexes!

-- Adults live within blood

vessels, feed on blood

Schistosome Egg and spine

 Class Trematoda:

Schistosome life
cycles are unusual
in several ways

Separate sexes: dioecious

Picture of the
Happy couple
Of 200 million infected approximately 120 million show symptoms. The
mortality rate is about 2.5% but more frequent in children (5 million deaths,
200K in Sub-Saharan Africa alone)
 3 species mainly
invade humans

S. japonicum

S. haematobium
S. mansoni
General Pathology

S. mansoni, S japonicum
• Acute schistosomiasis: fever, nausea, cough etc., and
granuloma formation after female begins to lay eggs

• Chronic Schistosomiasis: could be years later

intestinal schistosomiasis: granulomatous inflamation
around eggs; colonic polyps, especially in Egypt.
hepatosplenic schistosomiasis: inflammation around
eggs trapped in liver, leading to fibrosis,
cirrhosis

S haematobium:
parasites in the bladder and ureter, can lead to
calcification, cancer….”urinary schistosomiasis”