ThePentastomida are an enigmatic group ofparasiticarthropods commonly known astongue worms due to the resemblance of the species of the genusLinguatula to a vertebratetongue; molecular studies point to them being highly-derivedcrustaceans.[1]
About 130 species of pentastomids are known; all areobligate parasites with correspondingly degenerate anatomy. Adult tongue worms vary from about 1 to 14 cm (0.4 to 5.5 in) in length, and parasitise therespiratory tracts ofvertebrates. They have five anteriorappendages. One is the mouth; the others are two pairs of hooks, which they use to attach to the host. This arrangement led to their scientific name, meaning "five openings", but although the appendages are similar in some species, only one is a mouth.
Other important summaries have been published byLouis Westenra Sambon,[7]Richard Heymons[8] and John Riley,[9] and a review of their evolutionary relationships with a bibliography up to 1969 was published by J. T. Self.[10]
The affinities of tongue worms have long proved controversial. Historically, they were initially compared to various groups of parasitic worms. Once the arthropod-like nature of their cuticle was recognised, similarities were drawn with mites,[11] particularly gall mites (Eriophyidae). Although gall mites are much smaller than tongue worms, they also have a long, segmented body and only two pairs of legs. Later work[citation needed] drew comparisons with millipedes and centipedes (Myriapoda), with velvet worms (Onychophora) and water bears (Tardigrada). Some authors[citation needed] interpreted tongue worms as essentially intermediate betweenannelids andarthropods, while others suggested that they deserved aphylum of their own. Tongue worms grow bymoulting, which suggests they belong toEcdysozoa, while other work has identified the arthropod-like nature of their larvae.[12] In general, the two current alternative interpretations are: pentastomids are highly modified and parasitic crustaceans, probably related to fish lice, or they are an ancient group of stem-arthropods, close to the origins of Arthropoda.
The discovery that tongue worms arecrustaceans can be traced back to the work ofPierre-Joseph Van Beneden,[13] who compared them to parasiticcopepods. The modern form of this hypothesis dates from Karl Georg Wingstrand's study ofsperm morphology,[14] which recognised similarities in sperm structure between tongue worms and fish lice (Argulidae) – a group ofmaxillopod crustaceans which live as parasites on fish and occasionally amphibians. John Riley and colleagues also offered a detailed justification for the inclusion of the tongue worms among the crustaceans.[15] The fish louse model received significant further support from the molecular work of Lawrence G. Abele and colleagues.[16] A number of subsequent molecular phylogenies have corroborated these results,[17][18][19] and the nameIchthyostraca has been proposed for a (Pentastomida + Branchiura)clade.[20] Thus a number of important standard works and databases on crustaceans now include the pentastomids as members of this group.[21]
Critics of the Ichthyostraca classification have pointed out that even parasitic crustaceans can still be recognised as crustaceans based on their larvae; but that tongue worms and their larvae do not express typical characters for Crustacea or evenEuarthropoda. An alternative model notes the extremely ancient Cambrian origins of these animals and interprets tongue worms as stem-group arthropods.[22] A recent morphological analysis recovered Pentastomida outside the arthropods, as sister group toa clade includingnematodes,priapulids and similar ecdysozoan 'worm' groups.[23] Adding fossils, they suggested an extinct animal calledFacivermis could be closely related to tongue worms. However it should be stressed that these authors did not explicitly test pentastomid/crustacean relationships.
Exceptionally preserved, three-dimensional andphosphatised fossils from the UpperCambrianOrsten of Sweden[24] and the Cambrian/Ordovician boundary of Canada[25] have been identified as pentastomids. Also one from the Wuluian (middle Cambrian) of Greenland.[26] Four fossil genera have been identified from the Cambrian so far:Aengapentastomum,Boeckelericambria,Dietericambria,Haffnericambria andHeymonsicambria. These fossils suggest that pentastomids evolved very early and raise questions about whether these animals were parasites at this time, and if so, on which hosts.Conodonts (primitive fish) have sometimes been mentioned as possible hosts in this context.[25] A fifth genus,Invavita, is fromSilurian-aged marine strata of England: fossil specimens ofInvavita are found firmly attached to theirostracod hosts of the speciesNymphatelina gravida.[27][28] It possessed a head, a worm-like body, and two pairs of limbs.[29]
Pentastomids are worm-like animals ranging from 1 to 14 centimetres (0.39 to 5.51 in) in length. The female is larger than the male. The anterior end of the body bears five protuberances, four of which are clawed legs, while the fifth bears the mouth. The body is segmented and covered in achitinous cuticle. The digestive tract is simple and tubular since the animal feeds entirely on blood, except from genusLinguatula which lives in the nasal cavity of carnivorous mammals where they feed mainly on mucus and dead cells,[30][31] although the mouth is somewhat modified as a muscular pump.[32]
The nervous system is similar to that of other arthropods, including a ventral nerve cord withganglia in each segment. Although the body contains ahaemocoel, no circulatory, respiratory, or excretory organs are present.[32]
Pentastomids live in the upper respiratory tract of reptiles, birds, and mammals, where they lay eggs. They aregonochoric (having two sexes), and employinternal fertilisation. The eggs are either coughed out by the host or leave the host body through the digestive system. The eggs are then ingested by an intermediate host, which is commonly either a fish or a small herbivorous mammal.[32]
The larva hatches in the intermediate host and breaks through the wall of the intestine. It then forms a cyst in the intermediate host's body. The larva is initially rounded in form, with four or six short legs, butmoults several times to achieve the adult form. At least one species,Subtriquetra subtriquetra, has a free-living larva.[33] There is both indirect development with nymphal stages and direct development. The pentastomid reaches the main host when the intermediate host is eaten by the main host, and crawls into the respiratory tract from theoesophagus.[32][34]
Armillifer armillatus Wyman, 1848, a 4 cm individual collected from the respiratory system of a python,Python sebae. Specimen deposited in theNatural History Museum of Berlin.Female (right) and male (left)Armillifer sp.
Armillifer disease can also be calledporocephalosis.[39] (An alternate name forArmillifer moniliformis isPorocephalus moniliformis.)[40]
"Pentastomiasis" can refer to any infection of Pentastomida.
Porocephalus andArmillifer (which are all cylindrical and all inhabitsnakes) have much more in common with each other than they do withLinguatula (which is flat and inhabitsdogs andwolves).
^J. A. Frölich (1789). "Beschreibung einiger neuer Eingeweidewürmer".Der Naturforscher.24:101–162.
^A. von Humboldt (1811). "Sur un ver intestin trouvé dans les poumons du serpent à sonnettes, de Cumana".Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpand 2. Ptie. F. Schoell et G. Dufour, Paris. pp. 298–304.
^K. A. Rudolphi (1819).Entozoorum Synopsis. Augustus Rücker Berlin.
^K. M. Diesing (1835). "Versuch einer Monographie der GattungPentastoma".Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte.1:1–32.
^R. Leuckart (1860). "Bau und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Pentastomen nach Untersuchungen besonders vonPent. taenoides undP. denticulatum". C. F. Winter'sche Verlagshandlung, Leipzig: vi + 160.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
^L. W. Sambon (1922). "A synopsis of the family Linguatulidae".Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.12:188–206,391–428.
^R. Heymons (1935). "Pentastomida". In H. G. Bronns (ed.).Klassen und Ordnungen des Tierreichs. Fünfter Band. IV Abteilung, 1. Buch. Leipzig:Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H. pp. 1–268 pp.
^T. D. Schubart (1853). "Ueber die Entwicklung desPentastoma taenioides".Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie.4:117–118.
^G. Osche (1959). ""Arthropodencharaktere" bei einem Pentastomiden Embryo (Reighhardia sernae)".Zoologischer Anzeiger.163:169–178.
^P. J. van Beneden (1849). "Recherches sur l'organisation et le développement des Lingatules (Pentastoma Rud.), suivies de la description d'une espèce nouvelle provenant d'un Mandrill".Annales des Sciences Naturelles Zoologie Series.3 (11):313–348.
^K. G. Wingstrand (1972). "Comparative spermatology of a pentastomid,Raillietiella hemidactyli, and a branchiuran crustacean,Argulus foliaceus, with a discussion of pentastomid relationships".Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab Biologiske Skrifter.19 (4):1–72.
^O. S. Møller; J. Olesen; A. Avenant-Oldewage; P. F. Thomsen; H. Glenner (2008). "First maxillae suction discs in Branchiura (Crustacea): development and evolution in light of the first molecular phylogeny of Branchiura, Pentastomida, and other "Maxillopoda"".Arthropod Structure & Development.37 (4):333–346.Bibcode:2008ArtSD..37..333M.doi:10.1016/j.asd.2007.12.002.PMID18394959.
^Dieter Waloszek, John E. Repetski & Andreas Maas (2006). "A new Late Cambrian pentastomid and a review of the relationships of this parasitic group".Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences.96 (2):163–176.doi:10.1017/S0263593300001280.S2CID84859920.
^D. Walossek & K. J. Müller (1994). "Pentastomid parasites from the Lower Palaeozoic of Sweden".Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences.85:1–37.doi:10.1017/s0263593300006295.S2CID86957051.
^abDieter Walossek, John E. Repetski & Klaus J. Müller (1994). "An exceptionally preserved parasitic arthropod,Heymonsicambria taylori n. sp. (Arthropoda increate sedis: Pentastomida) from Cambrian – Ordovician boundary beds of Newfoundland".Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.31 (11):1664–1671.doi:10.1139/e94-149.
