Ribeiroia Taxonomy
Ribeiroia is a genus of parasites in the class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes. Currently three species and one subspecies of Ribeiroia are recognized: R. ondatrae in North America, R. marini in the Caribbean, R. m. guadeloupensis on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, and R. congolensis in Africa (Johnson et al. 2004). The trematode Cercaria lileta is also closely related to Ribeiroia, and molecular sequence data indicates that it may actually be a species of Ribeiroia (Johnson et al. 2004). All species of Ribeiroia share the distinctive morphological characteristic of esophageal diverticula (i.e., two short, dead-end branches that extend laterally from the esophagus). Other genera closely related to Ribeiroia include Trifolium, Cathemasia, and Echinostoma (Johnson et al. 2004). See Johnson et al. (2004) for more details on morphological and ecological differences as well as phylogenetic relationships between these species.
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