PEET: Monography of the Diphyllidea, Lecanicephalidea, and Tetraphyllidea: A Program to Train the Cestodologists of the Future

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9521943 CAIRA Tapeworms are responsible for human suffering around the globe, economic costs for our pets and domestic animals, and fluxes in numerous vertebrate wild animal populations. But their habitat, deep in the organs of other animals where they live as parasites, may have led to a general out-of-sight-out-of-mind attitude toward the biological diversity of these animals. While a fair amount is known about the biology of a few species that are major parasitic pests, general systematic knowledge for this class of flatworms is not well developed. The few systematic specialists who do study these parasites include individuals nearing retirement and there is a major need for training of new systematic workers in Cestoidea, the tapeworms. This award will support the training and research of three PhD students and several undergraduates will be introduced to research in the systematics of these animals. Three of fourteen of orders will receive monographic treatment to the species level; databases of these efforts will be developed and made available electronically to a wide community of researchers. The results of this research award will contribute to our knowledge of the biodiversity of tapeworms and train new practicing systematists who can carry on further research with these parasites and their relatives. The systematic monographs resulting from this research will be of value in basic biological research involving the population biology, ecology, biogeography, coevolutionary studies, etc. of these parasites, in addition to obvious possible economic applicability with human health and the health of domestic animals.