Entozoa
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Entozoa is an obsolete taxonomic term that historically referred to a group of parasitic animals that live inside the bodies of other organisms.[1] It was originally used in older classifications to describe a diverse assortment of internal parasites, including parasitic worms (like tapeworms and roundworms) and some protozoans.[2] However, the term Entozoa is only broadly descriptive and not based on evolutionary relationships, making it a convenient but scientifically invalid grouping. Coined by Swedish-German naturalist Karl Rudolfi in 1808,[3] the term is considered obsolete and no longer used in modern taxonomy.
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Advances in taxonomy and phylogenetics have replaced such groupings with more precise classifications based on evolutionary relationships.[4] Today, these organisms are classified within different kingdoms or phyla, such as Protozoa (single-celled organisms, like Plasmodium, a cause of malaria); Nematoda (roundworms, including the genus Ascaris); and Platyhelminthes (flatworms, like tapeworms and flukes).[5]
The term Entozoa was initially used at a broad taxonomic level, closer to the rank of a kingdom or a similarly overarching group in older biological classifications. It functioned as a general, non-systematic category for all internal parasites, reflecting the limited understanding of evolutionary relationships in the early 19th century.
References
[edit]- ^ Macleay, William Sharp (1819). Horae entomologicae : or, Essays on the annulose animals (PDF).
- ^ Cobbold, Thomas Spencer (1869). Entozoa: an introduction of the study of helminthology, with reference to the internal parasites of man.
- ^ Egerton, Frank N. (2013). "History of Ecological Sciences, Part 46: From Parasitology to Germ Theory". The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 94 (2): 136–164. Bibcode:2013BuESA..94..136E. doi:10.1890/0012-9623-94.2.136.
- ^ Torre-Bueno, J. R. de la (1989). The Torre-Bueno Glossary of Entomology (PDF). New York Entomological Society. ISBN 0-913424-13-7.
- ^ Jordan, Robert C. R. (1855). "On the Entozoa, Especially Those Infesting the Human Subject: Bring the Substance of a Lecture Given at Queen's College". Association Medical Journal. 3 (139): 809–812. JSTOR 25496610.