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Adult
dracunculoid nematodes are parasites occurring in tissues and body cavities
of mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians and birds.
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The biology and
host-parasite relationships of the Guinea Worm (Dracunculus
medinensis) are quite well known but there
is a lack of general life history
knowledge of many other species.
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In many cases,
species descriptions are based on characteristics of males, which are often
difficult to find because of their smaller size and lower abundance than
females.
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Recently,
host-switching has been reported in dracunculids and that will require
further study of the biology of the genus.
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Two of the genera in the
family are: Dracunculus, parasites of mammals and reptiles, and
Avioserpens, parasites of birds.
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Among the
genera of the Dracunculidae,
Avioserpens and Dracunculus
have wide geographical distributions anda re recorded from various regions
of the world. In contrast, other genera of the superfamily Dracunculoidea,
including Kamegainema, have
restricted host and geographic distributions, perhaps suggesting an archaic
character. Chabaud and Bain (1994) suggested that the Dracunculoidea evolved
in the Triassic or the
Jurassic from Chitwoodchabaudiidae
(Seuratoidea) that is today represented only by
Chitwoodchabaudia skryabini in
the African aquatic anuran Xenopus laevis. They suggested that
early dracunculoids were was similar to Micropleura
(Dracunculoidea: Micropleuridae), parasitic in aquatic or semiaquatic
reptiles (Hasegawa et al., 2000)
References
Chabaud, A.G. and Bain, O. 1994. The evolutionary
expansion of the Spirurida. International J. Parasitology 24: 1179-1201.
Cleveland, C.A., Garrett,
K.B., Cozad, R.A., Williams, B.M.. Murray, M.H., Yabsley, M.J. 2018. The wild
world of Guinea Worms: A review of the genus Dracunculus in wildlife. Int. J.
Parasitology: Parasites and wildlife 7:289-300.
Hasegawa, H., Doi, T., Araki, J. and Miyata,
A. 2000. Kamegainema cingulum (Linstow, 1902) n. gen., n. comb. (Nematoda:
Dracunculidae), a subcutaneous parasite of cryptobranchids (Amphibia:
Caudata). J. Parasitol., 86:583-587.
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