Superfamily Transversotrematoidea Witenberg, 1944

Abstract

The Transversotrematidae is the smallest family of digeneans comprising only four genera and about 23 species. Members of this family are distinctive in that they occur as ectoparasites residing underneath the scales of freshwater and marine fishes. Morphologically also the family exhibits many unusual features such as transversely elongate body, the absence of an oral sucker, the cyclocoel gut, etc. The life cycle pattern is also distinctive in that the cercariae are almost progenetic and directly attack the definitive hosts. The life cycle involves only two hosts. The family does not show affinities with any other digenean family.