Acanthocephalans - Phylogenetic Relationships

Phylogenetic Relationships

Acanthocephalans are highly adapted to a parasitic mode of life, and have lost many organs and structures through evolutionary processes. This makes determining relationships with other higher taxa through morphological comparison problematic. Phylogenetic analysis of the 18S ribosomal gene has revealed that the Acanthocephala are most closely related to the rotifers. They are possibly closer to the two rotifer classes Bdelloidea and Monogononta than to the other class, Seisonidea, producing the names and relationships shown in the cladogram below.

The three rotifer classes and the Acanthocephala make up a clade called Syndermata. This clade is placed in the Platyzoa.

Currently the phylum is divided into four classes – Palaeacanthocephala, Archiacanthocephala, Polyacanthocephala and Eoacanthocephala. The monophyletic Archiacanthocephala are the sister taxon of a clade comprising Eoacanthocephala and the monophyletic Palaeacanthocephala.