Family Troglotrematidae Odhner, 1914

Abstract

Troglotrematids are small to medium-sized gorgoderoids found in the lumen of the intestine, cavities of the upper respiratory tract, kidneys or liver of mammals and seabirds. Distinctive morphological features uniting all genera in the family are few, perhaps indicating that the family is not a natural taxon. All members have oral and ventral suckers, a pair of symmetrical testes and caeca that are not markedly sinuous. The uterus is mostly or entirely in the hindbody, the seminal vesicle is commonly bipartite and the genital pore is typically just posterior to the ventral sucker. Included in the family are the important genera Nanophyetus Chapin, 1927 (vector of a rickettsial disease of dogs in North America and common parasites of humans in East Siberia) and Troglotrema Odhner, 1914 (associated with skull lesions in mustelids).