Myxosporea
subclass of cnidarians
Myxosporea is a subclass of microscopic animals, all of whom are parasites. They belong to the Myxozoa clade within Cnidaria. They have a complex life cycle that comprises vegetative forms in two hosts—one an aquatic invertebrate (generally an annelid but sometimes a bryozoan) and the other an ectothermic vertebrate, usually a fish. Each parasitized host releases a different type of spore. The two forms of spore are so different in appearance that until relatively recently they were treated as belonging to different classes within the Myxozoa.
Taxonomic status
The taxonomy of both actinosporeans and myxosporeans was originally based on spore morphology. In 1994 the phylum Myxozoa was redefined to solve the taxonomic and nomenclatural problems arising from the two-host life cycle of myxozoans. The distinction between the two previously recognised classes Actinosporea and Myxosporea disappeared and the class Actinosporea was suppressed, becoming a synonym of the class Myxosporea (Bütschli, 1881). The generic names of actinosporeans were retained as collective "type" names, and it was proposed that they be used to characterise different morphological forms of actinosporeans. Those remaining actinosporeans whose myxosporean stage is unattested are being retained as species inquirenda until their specific identity is established.
“Myxosporea” enters the record as subclass of cnidarians. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Myxosporea, subclass and cnidarians can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Myxosporea” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Myxosporea, subclass and cnidarians provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q275657. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1994 and 1881.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Myxosporea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.