Annotated Bibliography (1 of 3)

Holger Herlyn, Oliver Piskurek, Jurgen Schmitz, Ulrich Ehlers,and Hans Zischler. 2003. The syndermatan phylogeny and the evolution of acanthocephalan endoparasitism as inferred from 18S rDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 26: 155–164

This article addresses the issue of how to phylogenetically classify groups within Syndermata. Although Herlyn et al. do not use the classification of syndermata, they do nest Acanthocephala within Rotifera. Therefore, when determining the phylogenetic relationships, Acanthocephala is compared with the three classes of Rotifera. By using 18s ribosomal DNA (rDNA) with several phylogenetic analyses, they conclude that Acanthocephala is a sister group to the Seisonidea rotifers, placing Bdelloid and Monogont rotifers in their own clade. They propose that, from this relation ship, the commensal life style of the seisonids gave way to the parasitic lifestyle of the acanthocephalans.