Taenia (genus) - Selected Species

Selected Species

• Taenia asiatica – Asian Taenia. Humans as definitive hosts, pigs and rarely cattle, as intermediate hosts.
• Taenia crassiceps
• Taenia gonyamai, parasite of antelope (larval-) and lions (adult forms).
• Taenia mustelae, which infects small carnivorans.
• Taenia pisiformis, which is common in wild dogs and in rabbits, who serve as intermediate hosts.
• Taenia rileyi, which infects bobcats.
• Taenia saginata – beef tapeworm. Infects cattle and humans, and can only reproduce while in the human gut.
• Taenia solium – pork tapeworm. Like T. saginata humans serve as its primary host, and it can only reproduce by the dispersal of proglottids while in the gut. These reinfect pigs when human faeces is improperly disposed of. This infection is most common in parts of Africa.
• Taenia taeniaeformis, which uses rodents as intermediate hosts and then inhabits cats as the definitive host.
• Taenia serialis, parasite of dogs and foxes which has rabbits as the intermediate host.