Project Summary
The platyhelminth class Cestoidea (the tapeworms) consists of over 4,200 species, exclusively parasitic as adults in the digestive system of vertebrates. This diverse group of species is of significant economic and medical importance, yet unfortunately, it remains poorly known. One of the main factors accounting for the lack of information on tapeworm systematics is the exsistence of only a few individuals trained to identify and classify these organisms. This situation has recently been exacerbated by the retirement of many of these experts. It is the primary goal of the proposed program to begin to rectify this situation before the experts of these retiring individuals is lost. This will be done first, through practical experience; monographs will constructed by all indiduals involved in the project on 3 of the 14 currently recognized orders of tapeworms, the Diphyllidea, the Lecanicephalidea, and the Tetraphyllidea, currently possessing 26, 48, and 330 species respectively. These monographs will be comprehensive. Each will deal with all species, their synonyms, descriptions, phylogenetic relationships and biology (including host associations, biogeography etc.). Second, expertise in the identification and current classification of all 14 tapeworm orders will be transferred from experts in each group to students by way of a series of 12 specimen-based workshops. We plan to bring individuals from around the world with expertise in each tapeworm order to the University of Connecticut to teach these mini-courses at a rate of about 1 per semester over the course of the 5 years of the project. A database containing all available information on all specimens of all species in each order will be constructed. To ensure the general availability of the results of the database and monographic activities of this project, all aspects including the database, the distribution data, the phylogenetic trees, etc. will be computerized and made available via internet and on CD-ROM. Students participating in this training program will be schooled in tapeworm taxonomy, phylogenetic methods, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), field methods, and computer methods. We envision a minimum of 2 Ph.D. student, 1 M.S. student and 6 to 10 undergraduate students being trained in tapeworm taxonomy over the course of the project.
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Last updated: Febuary 18, 2001
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