Taxonomy and Phylogeny
Domain: Eukarya
Kindom: Animalia
Phylum:
Nematoda
Class: Adenophorea
Order: Trichocephalida
Family: Trichinellidea
Genus: Trichinella
Species: T. spiralis
Trichinella spiralis
belongs to the domain Eukarya because it has membrane bound
organelles, a membrane bound nucleus, and is multicellular. In contrast to this, there are
Prokaryotes, which are typically unicellular and do not
contain membrane bound organelles or a membrane bound
nucleus.
T. spiralis belongs to
the kingdom Animalia because it is heterotrophic meaning that
it uses organic compounds for energy. This organism does not
have cell walls and is motile, which are both key traits of
the kingdom Animalia.
The phylum Nematoda
includes animals that are bilaterally symmetrical and pseudocoelomates, which means their body cavity is only
partially lined with the embryonic tissue called mesoderm.
Other characteristics include the presence of hydrostatic
skeleton and a complete digestive system.
A few characteristics
that put T. spiralis into the class Adenophorea is that it
has sensory papillae on the head region, which are used to
help sense the environment. They also have caudal glands located
in the tail, which is characteristic of the class Adenophorea.
The main characteristic
that puts this organism into the order Trichocephalida is that it
is histiotrophic, which means that in some stage of its
development, they invade tissues and cells.
Members of the family
Trichinellidea are all parasitic just like Trichinella
spiralis, which is why it belongs to this family.
It belongs to the genus
Trichinella because all the members of this genus cause the
disease trichinosis.
Phylogenetic tree of nematodes from
WormBook
liscensed under the
Creative Commons Attribute
Liscense based on the 18s RNA gene sequence
Within this phylogenetic tree,
Trichinella spiralis would be under Clade II. In Clade
II T. spiralis belongs to the family
Trichocephalida. Therefore, T. spiralis would be in the
same spot as Trichuris is in this tree.
Phylogenetic tree of Trichinella
from
WormBook liscensed under the Creative Commons Attribute
Liscense based of SSU rRNA
This phylogenetic tree shows where T.
spiralis fits in relation to the other Trichinella
species. Some of Trichinella spiralis closest
relatives would be T. nelsoni and T. britovi.
To learn more about where this organism is
found click here
