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Ancylostomatoidea Structure and Function (view source)
Revision as of 16:00, 5 July 2012
, 16:00, 5 July 2012no edit summary
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{{Taxobox
|name =Ancylostomatoidea
|kingdom =Animalia
|phylum =[[Nematodes|Nematoda]]
|class =Secernentea
|sub-class =
|order =Strongylida
|super-family =[[Ancylostomatoidea]]
|family =Ancylostomatidae
|sub-family =
|genus =
|species =
}}
== General Appearance ==
[[Image:Ancylostoma.jpg|thumb|right|150px|''Ancylostoma'' - Courtesy of the Laboratory of Parasitology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine]]
The superfamily '''Ancylostomatoidea''' contains the 'hookworms', 1-2 cm long bursate [[Nematodes|'''nematodes''']] which, together with the [[Strongyloidea|'''Strongyloidea''']] and [[Trichostrongyloidea|'''Trichostrongyloidea''']], belong to the order '''Strongylida'''.
Unlike the rest of the [[Strongyloidea]], the head is bent dorsally so that the buccal cavity forms a characteristic 'hook'. Members of the family have large buccal cavities which often contain teeth and cutting plates to allow the adult worms to embed their heads deeply into the mucosa of the small intestine. The large buccal cavity can be easily identified under the microscope and the configuration of teeth and cutting plates can be used to identify individual species.
Almost all hookworm '''eggs''' are oval in shape and around 50 um in diameter. The shell membrane is thin and transparent and, by the time the egg is passed in the faeces, it contains a segmented ovum at the 4 or 8 cell stage. In a tropical climate, the egg will hatch within 24 hours and only L1 larvae will then be detectable.
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[[Category:Ancylostomatoidea|A]]
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