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 M. acomysi MeasurementsFemale (mm)Male (mm)Length of proboscis0.20–0.430.19–0.36Width of proboscis0.14–0.220.12–0.21Length of proboscis receptacle 0.68–0.840.68–0.84Width of proboscis receptacle 0.24–0.330.24–0.33Length of trunk22–8912–76Width of trunk0.56–1.500.26–1.50Size of lemnisci2.73–4.42 × 0.13–0.232.73–4.42 × 0.13–0.23 Size of testis2.31 × 0.52–0.65Size of cement glands0.300Size of eggs0.07–0.09 x 0.03–0.05 M. aegyptiacus MeasurementsFemale (mm)Length of proboscis0.35Width of proboscis0.16–0.18Length of proboscis receptacle 0.75Length of trunk115Length of lemnisci5.25–6.0Size of eggs0.09–0.1 x 0.04–0.05 M. amini MeasurementsFemale (mm)Male (mm)Length of proboscis0.28–0.300.27Width of proboscis0.10–0.110.09Length of proboscis receptacle 0.54–0.640.40Width of proboscis receptacle 0.18–0.250.17Length of trunk63.96–120.8320.21Width of trunk0.90–1.220.82Length of lemnisci6.90–11.905.40Size of anterior testis1.80 × 0.60Size of posterior testis1.80 × 0.50Size of region occupied by cement glands0.40 × 0.17Size of eggs0.06 x 0.02Length of uterine bell1.17Distance from the uterine bell to genital pore1.08 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.
Moniliformis acomysi Ward and Nelson, 1967
M. acomysi was found infesting the Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) in South Sinai, Egypt. The proboscis has eleven to sixteen longitudinal rows of hooks with six to ten hooks per row with the largest hooks being apical and range from 21 to 29 mm long in the male and 23 to 31 mm long in the female. There are eight cement glands in the male and the eggs of the female are oval. The species name acomysi derives from the host genus name Acomys.
Moniliformis aegyptiacus Meyer, 1932
M. aegyptiacus infests Meriones sinaiticus and the four-toed jerboa (Allactaga tetradactyla reported as Scarturus tetradactylus) in Egypt and the North African hedgehog (Atelerix algirus reported as Erinaceus algiris) in Tunis. The proboscis has 96 hooks arranged in twelve longitudinal rows with eight hooks per row. The eggs are oval. The species name aegyptiacus derives from locality of the host, Egypt.
Moniliformis amini Martins, del Rosario Robles, and Navone 2017
M. amini was found in the small intestine parasitising the olive grass mouse (Abrothrix olivaceus) in the Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The species name amini was named after Omar Amin, a parasitologist specializing in Acanthocephala. Sexual dimorphism is pronounced with female over four times longer than the male. The proboscis has 12 to 14 longitudinal rows of hooks with 10 to 12 hooks per row with the largest hooks in the female being apical ranging from 22.21 to 24.47 μm, the middle being 15.50 μm long and the posterior being the smallest at 12 μm long. The largest hooks in the male are 24 μm. There are eight cement glands in the male, the eggs are oval.
Moniliformis cestodiformis (Linstow, 1904)
M. cestodiformis has been found infesting hedgehogs of the genus Erinaceus in West Africa. The proboscis is between 400 and 500 μm long and 200 μm wide with 16 to 18 rows of 7 or 8 hooks each and no apical pores. The largest hooks are found anteriorly and are 30 to 32 μm long with no dorsoventral differences. The eggs have 4 membranes and are 85 to 92 μm long and 49 to 51 μm wide giving them an elongation ratio of 1.73.
Moniliformis clarki (Ward, 1917)
M. Clarki MeasurementsFemale (mm)Male (mm)Length of proboscis?0.41–0.52Width of proboscis?0.13–0.14Length of proboscis receptacle ?0.65–0.67Width of proboscis receptacle ?0.32–0.33Length of trunk120–25061–85Width of trunk2.10–2.801.60–2.00Length of lemnisci?3.46–4.79 × 0.13–0.18Size of anterior testis3.30–5.62 × 0.72–1.15Size of posterior testis3.97–4.29 × 0.72–1.17Size of eggs0.05–0.09 x 0.03–0.0
M. clarki commonly infects squirrels, chipmunks, deer mice, and gophers in North America. If left untreated, it can kill its host. Ten cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) were infected at the St. Louis Zoo with at least one being killed by the parasite. Eggs of what is thought to be M. clarki due to the heavy population of common rodent hosts were discovered while examining human coprolite specimens gathered from Danger Cave in Utah. It was theorized that the man had either eaten a raw insect or an under cooked rodent. The female is twice as long than the male. The proboscis has 12 or 13 longitudinal rows of hooks with six or seven hooks per row with the largest hooks being 23 to 28 mm long. The eggs have 4 membranes and are 75 μm long and have an elongation ratio of 2.42.
Moniliformis convolutus Meyer, 1932
M. convolutus has been found infesting the large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) in Brazil. The proboscis is 500 μm long by 200 μm wide with 12 rows of 11 or 12 hooks each. The posterior hooks are rootless and the proboscis receptacle is 700 μm long.
Moniliformis cryptosaudi Amin, Heckmann, Sharifdini, and Albayati, 2019
M. cryptosaudi is a cryptic species with M. saudi being morphologically identical, apart from the metal content of the hooks, but genetically distinct. The hooks consist of a collagen material with very low levels of phosphorus and calcium which is in contrast to those of M. saudi which has high levels of these two metals. The trunk is between 20.50 ad 48.75 mm long by 0.72 to 1.05 mm wide in the male and 28.75 to 121.25 mm long by 0.65 to 2.25 mm wide in the much larger female. The anterior trunk tapers in a fan-shaped pattern and has a collar of vertical plates. The proboscis is between 343 and 416 μm long by 135 and 188 μm wide in the male and 300 to 416 μm long by 162 to 291 μm wide in the female. The proboscis is armed with 13 to 14 rows of hooks each containing 7 or 8 hooks with the largest being found anteriorly and measuring 25 to 35 μm long in the female and 16 to 25 μm long in the male. The ventral hooks longer than dorsal hooks. The proboscis receptacle is 624 to 1092 μm by 218 to 364 μm in the female and 551 to 936 μm by 200 to 291 μm in the male. The long lemnisci has 6 to 8 giant nuclei and measures 4.26 to 7.28 mm by 0.12 to 0.18 mm in the male and has 6 to 9 giant nuclei and measures 4.15 to 8.12 mm by 0.11 to 0.21 mm in the female. The short lemnisci has 3 or 4 giant nuclei and measures 3.74 to 5.72 mm by 0.09 to 0.15 mm in the male and has 5 or 6 giant nuclei and measures 2.18 to 7.25 mm by 0.11 to 0.21 mm in the female. The anterior testes are 1.65 to 3.67 mm by 0.40 to 0.62 mm in size and the posterior testes are 1.50 to 2.62 mm by 0.37 to 0.62 mm in size. In the male, the cement glands are 322 to 780 μm by 229 to 416 μm and Saefftigen's pouch measures 624 to 925 μm by 270 to 425 μm. In the female, The eggs are oval, measuring 50 to 104 μm by 25 to 36 μm.
The species name cryptosaudi refers to this cryptic status with M. saudi. It has been found in the intestine infesting the long-eared Hedgehog (Hemiechinus auritus) near Baqubah, Iraq.
Moniliformis echinosorexi Deveaux, Schmidt and Krishnasamy, 1988
M. echinosorexi has been found infesting the moonrat (Echinosorex gymnurus) in Malaysia but may also infect hedgehogs. The worms have 12 to 15 rows of between 11 and 13 hooks that change from 34 to 36 μm long. The proboscis receptacle is 1.2 to 2.0 mm long. Males are between 95 and 98 mm long whereas females are longer ranging from 126 to 192 mm long. The proboscis is relatively large ranging from 690 to 1000 μm long with 12 to 15 rows of containing 11 and 13 hooks each. The posterior hooks do not have roots. The proboscis receptacle is large at 1.2 mm long in males and 2.0 mm long in females. The testes are relatively large being between 5.6 and 6.8 mm long. Lemnisci are similarly long at with three giant nuclei each. The species name echinosorexi derives from the genus of the host, Echinosorex.
Moniliformis gracilis (Rudolphi, 1819)
M. gracilis is a parasite of the European roller (Coracias garrullus) in Europe. The worms are very small being only 2.25 to 3.00 mm long. The proboscis has 10 rows each with 8 or 9 hooks with the largest hooks on the anterior portion. The ganglion at the base of the short receptacle is 360 μm long.
Moniliformis ibunami Moniliformis kalahariensis Meyer, 1931
M. kalahariensis was found infesting the Southern African Hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis) in Mohlonong and at the University of Limpopo in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. and Namaqua sandgrouse (Pterocles namaqua) in Botswana. The intermediate host is the German cockroach (Blattella germanica).
Juvelines are unsegmented whereas adults are pseudosegmented. There are 2 apical sensory pores on the proboscis. Males trunk is between 44.25 and 75.00 mm long by 1.62 and 1.75 mm wide whereas the females are larger being 51.25 to 81.25 mm long by 2.00 to 2.25 mm wide. In the male, proboscis 780 long by 384 wide and 763 to 863 μm long by 374 to 426 μm wide in the female. The proboscis has 15 or 16 usually straight rows of between 9 and 11 hooks. In the male, the rooted hooks measure 29 to 30 μm, 41 to 47 μm, 55 to 57 μm, 55 to 56 μm from the anterior and the spings spiniform hooks measure 67 to 75 μm, 75 to 77 μm, 65 to 75 μm, 60 to 62 μm, 57 to 60 μm, 35 to 40 μm from the anterior. Proboscis receptacle 1.52 mm long by 0.52 mm wide in the male and 1.75 to 1.80 mm long by 0.47 to 0.55 mm wide in the female. The lemnisci are 18.75 mm long by 0.17 mm wide male and 13.75 to 16.25 mm long by 0.24 to 0.27 mm wide female.
The male reproductive system is located in the posterior part of trunk. The testes are elongate with the anterior testis measuring between 3.50 and 6.87 mm long by 0.75 and 1.25 mm wide and the posterior testis measuring between 4.05 and 5.55 mm long by 0.95 and 1.32 mm wide. Cement glands are located posterior of the testes in cluster of 8 and measure between 0.87 and 2.50 mm long by 0.50 and 1.07 mm wide with the anterior glands being the largest. Saefftigen's pouch is 1.62 to 1.75 mm long by 0.50 to 0.57 mm wide. In the juvenile, the reproductive system is underdeveloped, with ovoid testes and occasionally lacking cement glands. The female reproductive system measures 572 to 946 μm in total length but lacks vaginal muscles. The uterus is thick and double-walled measuring 343 to 624 μm long and well-developed ligaments hold the distal end of uterus to body wall. The uterine bell is between 208 and 343 μm long and contains many nuclei. The eggs are ovoid being 73 to 114 μm long by 31 to 62 μm wide and are notched at one pole.
Moniliformis moniliformis (Bremser, 1811)