Polymorphidae


The thorny-headed worm family Polymorphidae contains endoparasites which as adults feed mainly in fish and aquatic birds. When this taxon was erected by Meyer in 1931, a subfamily Polymorphinae was established in it. As the Polymorphidae as presently understood would then be monotypic, with no basal genera outside the Polymorphinae, the proposed subfamily is redundant for the time being and therefore most modern treatments simply omit it. Polymorphus minutus is an economically significant parasite in goose and duck farming.

Species

Polymorphidae contains the following species:
Andracantha Schmidt, 1975
Andracantha gravida Schmidt, 1975
Ardeirhynchus Dimitrova and Georgiev, 1994
Arhythmorhynchus Lühe, 1911
Bolbosoma Porta, 1908
Corynosoma Lühe, 1904
Diplospinifer Fukui, 1929
Filicollis Lühe, 1911
Ibirhynchus García-Valera, Pérez-Ponce de León, Aznar and Nadler, 2011
Neoandracantha Amin & Heckmann, 2017
Polymorphus Lühe, 1911
The genus polymorphus uses amphipod crustaceans as intermediate hosts and various birds as final hosts. The genus used to be a larger group, but species that were formerly placed in the genus have now been placed in the genus Profilicollis based on morphological characteristics and the use of decapod crustaceans as intermediate hosts.
Profilicollis Meyer, 1931
Pseudocorynosoma Aznar, Pérez-Ponce de León & Raga, 2006
Southwellina Witenberg, 1932
Tenuisoma
T. tarapungi was found in the intestines of the red-billed gull on the coast of Otago, New Zealand.