Polystomatidae

Polystomatidae have mainly been recorded from aquatic and semi-aquatic tetrapods, with the exception of species found on the gills and oral cavity of the Australian lungfish (Neoceratodusis poisteri). There are about 200 described species found in neobatrachian hosts, in which the highest level of diversification has been reached, and archaeobatrachian pipids and pelobatids. In these hosts, adult polystomes always occupy an internal habitat, namely the urinary bladder, but young parasites can also be found on the gills of tadpoles.

Polystomatids have also been described from the skin or inside the urinary bladder of a few salamanders; in several families and genera of chelonians, where they inhabit the urinary bladder, the conjunctival sacs or the pharyngeal cavity; in caecilians, where they occur in the urinary bladder or the phallodeum; and in the hippopotamus, where they live on the surface of the eye or under the eyelid. Thus, the occurrence of this unique monogenean family among lungfishes and tetrapods, together with their high degree of specificity (generally one parasite species is associated with a single host species), their direct life cycle and the worldwide distribution of its representatives, suggests that the origin of the Polystomatidae could be very early, perhaps during the transition of life between aquatic and land vertebrates.

The Polystomatidae are essentially characterized by a well-developed haptor, bearing three pairs of suckers (polystomatids proper) or one sucker pair (sphyranurines).

Collection of pictures of Polystomatidae

Some representative Polystomatoida

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Polystomatidae