ROUNDWORMS

ASCHELMINTHES
(Greek word: askos = cavity + helminths = worms)
Porifera Cnidaria Nematoda Annelida Echinodermata
Platyhelminthes Mollusca Arthropoda Chordata

pseudocoel coelom coelom

protosomes deuterosomes

body cavity

bilateral tissue symmetry

symmetry
tissue

ancestral protist
No coelom (acoelomate)
ectoderm

mesoderm

endoderm (gut)
flatworm

Pseudocoel ectoderm
mesoderm
pseudocoel
(mesoderm on one side only)
endoderm (gut)
roundworm

Coelom ectoderm
mesoderm
coelom
(surrounded by mesoderm)
endoderm (gut)
earthworm
 Metazoa

Germ
layers:
Diploblastaea Triploblastaea

Symmetry: Radiata Bilateria

Coelom: Acoelomata Coelomata

Pseudocoelomata
 Roundworms
(Aschelminthes)

 Derived from Gr. askos = cavity +

helmints = worm which means "cavity
worms"
 They are pseudocoelomates.
 The important evolutionary
development in roundworms is that
they have a complete digestive
tract and a pseudocoelom
 General characteristics
 Symmetry bilateral; unsegmented
and triploblastic (three germ
layers)
 Size mostly small; some microscopic;
a few are a metre in length
 Body usually vermiform, round or
flattened
 Body wall composed of a thin cuticle,
a thick epidermis, a thin dermis, and
a thin layer of circular and
longitudinal muscles
 A pseudocoel appears between the gut and
the body wall and is not lined with
peritoneum
 Digestive system complete with a mouth
and anus; pharynx muscular and well
developed; tube-within-a tube
arrangement
 Circulatory and respiratory organs lacking
 Excretory system of canals and
protonephridia
 Cloaca which receives excretory,
reproductive and digestive products
 Nervous system: cerebral ganglia or
circumenteric nerve ring, lateral
nerves; sense organs: ciliated pits,
papillae, bristles and eye spots (few)
 Reproductive system: gonads; ducts
 Sexes nearly always separate; male
smaller than female; eggs microscopic
with shell
Aschelminthes are divided
into five phyla:
 Phylum Rotifera
 Phylum Gastrotricha
 Phylum Kinorhyncha
 Phylum Nematomorpha
 Phylum Nematoda
 Phylum Nematoda
(roundworms)
 More important to man than the the
other 4 phyla combined
 Many troublesome parasites,
numerous pests upon vegetables,
and also free-living species.
 Found in almost every habitable spot
on earth.
 Those that are parasitic in man or
man's domesticated animals will be
given special emphasis.
 Characteristics
 Unsegmented
 Smooth surfaced, tapered, cylindrical
 Light coloured or white worms
 Sexes separated and dissimilar
 Most of them are small but giant
forms (e.g. Dracunculus medinensis)
may reach a length of 1 metre
 Body lacks distinct head
 Mouth with three lobes
 Cuticle transparent and resistant to
digestive enzymes
 Ascaris lumbricoides
External features
 Females 20 to
40 cm long;
males 15 to 30
cm.
 Pointed at
both ends;
whitish yellow;
 cuticle with
four
longitudinal
lines (dorsal,
ventral and
two lateral).
 Head bears three lips, dorsal and two
lateroventral; mouth.
 Male smaller with a curved posterior
end that bears penial spicules in the
cloaca.
 Female straight; vulva or genital pore
ventrally about one third of the
distance from the head end. The
anus; ventral slit near posterior end.
 Alimentary canal
 A simple straight tube. Mouth; short
muscular sucking pharynx; long intestine
lined with endodermal cells for absorption; a
short rectum with an anus in female and a
cloaca in males.
 Nervous system
 Ganglia around the
pharynx give rise to
several small nerves
to the anterior end
and two main nerve
cords, dorsal and
ventral and several
small ones to the tail
end.
 Sense organs are
poorly developed.
Papillae of the lips
will have more
 Reproductive organs

 Tubular with many coils in the pseudocoel,

and are attached only at the genital pore
(female) or cloaca (male).
 Male system

 Is single and consists of a coiled

testis for producing sperm, a seminal
vesicle for storing sperm a vas
deferens from the testis to the
seminal vesicle for conducting
sperm, an ejaculatory tube from the
seminal vesicle for discharging
sperm into the cloaca
 two penial spicules for attachment
into the female genital pore during
 Female system
 This system is paired.
 It consists of two coiled ovaries for
producing eggs, two oviducts for carrying
eggs, and two uteri which unite into a
common vagina that opens to the outside
at the genital pore.
Ascaris: female reproductive system
 Life-cycle
 Eggs are passed out
in the faeces of man
or pig and develop
into first stage larvae
which then moult
while still within the
egg capsules to
produce the 2nd
(infective) stage
larvae.
 No further
development takes
place until the
infective eggs are
 In the intestine the infective larvae are
released from the egg capsules and
undergo a remarkable migration within the
body of the host.
 The larvae burrow through the intestinal
mucosa, enter a blood vessel and are
carried via the hepatic portal vein to the
liver.
 From the liver they move via the heart
and the pulmonary arteries to the lungs.
 In the lungs they moult twice, rapture the
capillaries and enter the alveoli.
 They then move up the trachea, into the
pharynx and finally back to the intestine
where they undergo the fourth and final
moult to develop into mature worms.
 Life cycle of Ascaris lumbricoides:

EGGS
Intestine: Larvae: fourth
molt into adults
Pharynx First stage larvae
Trachea Larvae molt twice and
enter the alveoli
Lungs Infective
stage larvae
Migration
of larvae: Heart
Liver
HOST: man or pig
Hepatic Larvae hatch
portal vein Intestinal in intestine
mucosa
 Disease
 Ascaris lumbricoides
is harmful to man.
 When occurring in
large numbers they
can consume an
appreciable amount
of the host's
ingested nutrients
and cause
mechanical
blockage of the gut.
 Larval stages may
cause damage to
the liver and lungs.
Milky spots in liver
 Hookworm - Ancylostoma
 These worms are
called hookworms
because of a hook-
shaped body; they
actually have no
hooks.
 Intestinal parasite of
humans
 The effects of
infection - anaemia,
retarded mental and
physical growth and
general loss of energy
 They have cutting plates
or teeth in their mouths
by which the worms cut
holes into the intestinal
mucosa.
 By means of the sucking
pharynx they draw
blood, fluids, etc. into
their intestines. To
facilitate their feeding
they have an
anticoagulant in their
mouth secretions to
prevent blood clotting.
 They leave a bleeding
wound after feeding.
Female Male

Male copulatory
 Trichina worm
– Trichinella

spiralis
Responsible for the
serious disease
trichinosis.
 Symptoms: intestinal
disturbances, muscular
pains, fever, mental
conditions and edema
(swelling of tissues owing
to the accumulation of
abnormally large amount
of fluid in intercellular
spaces).
 Male

Female
 Minute worm
 Adults lives in intestinal wall. Its juveniles
are carried in the blood to the muscles
(especially those muscle with high
metabolic rates, e.g. diaphragm, tongue,
eyes and thigh) where they form calcified
cysts (encyst).
 Transmission to another host can occur
only if flesh containing encysted juveniles
is ingested.
 Cysts swallowed develop in the intestine
into mature worms.
 Besides man other hosts are: rats, cats
and dogs.
Larvae in muscle tissue of pork
 Pinworms – Enterobius
vermicularis
 Infects mostly
children.
 Adult worm found in
the caecum and
adjacent parts of the
large intestine with
their heads attached
to the mucosa.
 Females with eggs
often migrate to the
anal region at night
and deposit their
 Since they cause irritation,
scratching often contaminates
fingers, as well as bed clothing with
the ova.
 Reinfection can occur if the person is
unsanitary.
 Each generation lasts about three to
four weeks, and if re-infection does
not occur, the infection will die out.
 Swallowed ova are carried to the
duodenum, where they hatch.
 They pass through the small
intestine, moult and become adults
 Symptoms: Appendictis,
irritability, intestinal disturbance.
 Whipworms -Trichuris
trichiura
 Anterior part
prolonged into a
narrow, whiplike
structure.
 Parasites in the
intestine of children.
 Feed on fluids,
digested tissues and
possibly blood.
 Infection causes
diarrhoea and even
anaemia, because
they may suck blood.
 Filarial worms - Wuchereria
bancrofti
 This filarial worm is a
human parasite and it
requires an arthropod
host to complete the life
cycle.
 Adults obstruct the lymph
circulation, and if present
in numbers may, after
some years, cause the
disease elephantiasis,
in which the limbs,
scrotum, or other parts
affected grow to
 The adult female grows to 80 mm long, the male
40 mm, but neither is over 0,3 mm in diameter.
 If both sexes are present, they mate, and each
female produces large numbers of microfilariae.

Adult
 The minute larvae, or microfilariae live by day
mainly in large blood vessels, passing at night to
small vessels in the skin (when mosquitoes are
active)
 Microfilariae cause no trouble even if numerous.
 If taken up by mosquitoes of the genus Culex or
Aëdes the larvae pass to the insect's stomach,
then to the thoracic muscles, undergo
metamorphosis, and migrate into the proboscis.
 At the mosquito's next meal, the larvae enter the
human skin, pass into lymph vessels, coil up in
lymph glands, and later mature.
 Guinea worm - Dracunculus medinensis

 Is a human parasite in India, Arabia and

Africa.
 The larvae occur in water fleas (Cyclops)
which may be swallowed by the final host
(human) in drinking water.
 Upon reaching the host's stomach the larvae
escape from water flea and burrow in
subcutaneous tissues, occasionally to the heart or
brain where they stay for a year or less.
 The mature female (males are virtually unknown)
migrates, often to the host's ankle or foot, where
an ulcer forms.
 Upon immersion of the limb in water, female
worm release larvae in water
 Larvae seek the intermediate host (Cyclops).

 Native people commonly remove a worm by

winding it on a stick, a few turns per day.
 The modern method is surgery.
 Eye worm - Loa loa

 Lives in the subcutaneous tissues of

man and baboons.
 It migrates in the tissue and
sometimes passes across the
eyeball.
Transmission of Loa loa is accomplished via Tabanid flies