Classification

Domain: Eukarya

Eukarya are organisms with true organelles and a true nucleus. These organelles and nucleus have membranes around them. Eukarya also have rRNA that differ from that of Arhcaea and Bacteria

Kingdom: Animalia

Cyathocotyle bushiensis is part of the Animalia kingdom for multiple reasons. It is a multicelluslar, heterotrophic organism. When it ingests its food it is then digested inside the body, which is the case in most animals. The cells that make up the body do not have cell walls and make up tissues. These tissues perform special functions depending what they are specialized to do. These tissues are also usually organized into organs. Most animals cells are diploid. Also in most cases they use sexual reproduction (Myers, 2001).

 

Phylum: Platyhelminthes

The phylum Platyhelminthes is a group of unsegmented, bilaterally symetrical, acoelomates that posess three germ layers. They have a nervous system made of cephalizations. These cephalizations contain a head ganglion. This head ganglion is connected to the rest of the bodies nervous system via longitudinal nerve cords. The longitudinal nerve cords are connected by transverse branches that run across the body (Myers, 2002).

 

Class: Trematoda

Cyathocotyle bushiensis is part of the class Trematoda because all trematodes are parasitic. The hosts the adult form preys off of is a vertebrate. Trematodes also have a tegument covering the body and one or two suckers along the ventral surface. Trematodes like C. bushiensis have a complex life cycle as well. They require more than one intermediate host for development before they take on their adult form (Myers, 2001).

 

Order: Strigeatida

This order is characterized by their cyst wall. They cyst stage has a thick wall that contains a lot of lamellae. Another important characteristic is their adhesive organ.

 

Family: Cyathocotylidae

Cyathocotylidae usually does not have a ventral sucker. Oval is generally the shape the body takes. This compact body has a head region, holdfast, and cirrus. The head region is not very evident, the holdfast is for attachment to the host, and the cirrus sac is the reproductive structure. Another key characteristic is the shape of the ceca in the posterior end. It forms a continuous loop or arc (McDonald, 1981).

The above is a breakdown of the entire Cyathocotylidae family into the different Genus and species.

Genus: Cyathocotyle

Cyathocotyle can be identified by their reproductive structures. Both the testes and ovoid structures are elongated. It extends to be about 25 percent of the body length. The holdfast is another important characteristic because it is so large. They holdfast may extend to as long as 2/3 of the body length. Cyathocotyle also have no ventral cavity (McDonald, 1981).

 

Species: bushiensis

The presence of tegument over the holdfast helps to determine Cyathocotyle bushiensis. This tegument is different from the tegument covering the rest of the body. It is much thinner to allow for absorption of nutrients into the holdfast (Erasmus, 1972).

To learn more about C. bushiensis and how it uses these characteristics please click on the Reproduction link or others.