Moniliformis
genus of worms
Moniliformis is a genus of parasitic worms in the Acanthocephala phylum.
Taxonomy
Genetic analysis has been conducted on four species: Moniliformis moniliformis, M. saudi, M. cryptosaudi and M. kalahariensis. Based on these results, Moniliformidae has been determined to be monophyletic.
Description
Species of the genus Moniliformis are usually pseudosegmented and have a cylindrical proboscis with longitudinal rows of hooks that have posteriorly directed roots. Moniliformis species are further characterized by the presence of a simple, double-walled proboscis receptacle with the outer wall having spirally aligned muscle fibers, brain at posterior end of receptacle, and dorsal and ventral lacunar canals. The proboscis retractor muscles pierce both the posterior and ventral end or just posterior end of the receptacle. The cerebral ganglion is in the mid to posterior region, and the lemnisci are long and flat and not bound to the body wall. These worms also lack protonephridia and males have eight cement glands, each with a giant nucleus, which are used to temporarily close the posterior end of the female after copulation.
Species
The genus Moniliformis Travassos, 1915 contains nineteen species. Description of the genus is the same as the family Moniliformidae with the exception of possessing spiral muscles in the outer wall of the proboscis receptacle and a single distinct kind of proboscis hooks.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Moniliformis” as genus of worms. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as genus of worms. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2782820. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1915.
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This entry incorporates text from “Moniliformis” 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.