Plagiorhynchidae is a family of parasitic Acanthocephalan worms.

Species

Genera in Plagiorhynchidae are divided into three subfamilies: Plagiorhynchinae, Porrorchinae, and Sphaerechinorhynchinae.

Plagiorhynchinae Meyer, 1931

Paralueheia

Paralueheia Saxena & Gupta, 2008 contains only one species, Paralueheia guptai Saxena & Gupta, 2008

Plagiorhynchus

Species in Plagiorhynchus Lühe, 1911 are divided into two subgenera: Plagiorhynchus and Prosthorhynchus. P. aznari was found infesting a long-billed curlew (Numenius americanus) from northern Mexico.

Prosthorhynchus

Prosthorhynchus Kostylew, 1915 contains many species: P. cylindraceus was found infesting the Austral thrush (Turdus falcklandii) in central Chile. Janice Moore discovered P. cylindraceus to be a parasite that infects an intermediate host, the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare, which alters its behavior and becomes more susceptible to P. cylindraceus' primary host, the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris).

Porrorchinae Golvan, 1956

Lueheia

Lueheia Travassos, 1919 contains several species: L. inscripta was found infesting the Austral thrush (Turdus falcklandii) in central Chile. It has also been found in the Puerto Rican lizard Anolis cristatellus.

Oligoterorhynchus

Oligoterorhynchus Monticelli, 1914 contains one species: Oligoterorhynchus campylurus (Nitzsch, 1857)

Owilfordia

Owilfordia Schmidt and Kuntz, 1967 contains three species.

Porrorchis

Porrorchis Fukui, 1929 contains many species.

Pseudogordiorhynchus

Golvan, 1957

Pseudolueheia

Schmidt and Kuntz, 1967

Sphaerechinorhynchinae Golvan, 1956

Sphaerechinorhynchus

Johnston, 1929 S. macropisthospinus has been found in the intestine of the tiger (Panthera tigris) and a water monitor (Varanus salvator) in Vietnam.

Hosts

Plagiorhynchidae species parasitize a variety of hosts.