World List of Myxozoa
Class Myxozoa is a group of obligate parasites consisting of over 3000 species, representing about 15 % of the known cnidarian biodiversity (WoRMS Editorial Board, 2025). Myxozoans have complex life cycles that involve invertebrate and vertebrate hosts (Fiala et al., 2015; Okamura et al., 2015; Miller, 2024). Definitive hosts are annelids and bryozoans. Fishes represent the majority of intermediate hosts, although amphibians, reptiles, birds, monogeneans and mammals are also parasitized (Eszterbauer et al. 2015). In general, myxozoans infect a broad diversity of host species, but many individual species show high levels of host and organ specificity. Some species cause serious damage to their hosts, which may be important to humans when these hosts have economic and ecological value (Kent et al. 2001; Mackenzie & Kalavati, 2014).
The World list of Myxozoa was introduced in 2024 as a single source of myxozoan taxa and their synonyms. It is part of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), a global initiative to provide an online register of scientific names of all marine organisms and their non-marine relatives. It is continuously updated.
Users can find the taxonomic classification of myxozoans, with valid and invalid names of families, genera and species. The List provides the original source in which they were published (if known) and additional references that detail geographic range and host diversity. It also reports on their environment, distinguishing between freshwater, marine, brackish, and terrestrial habitats.
Records are based on published references that are valid according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. This implies that new taxa published in online-only articles should have the article registered in ZooBank to be considered valid.
Classification
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Phylum Cnidaria
- Subphylum Anthozoa
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Subphylum Endocnidozoa
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Class Myxozoa (3015 valid species)
- Subclass Malacosporea
- Subclass Myxosporea
- Class Polypodiozoa
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Class Myxozoa (3015 valid species)
- Subphylum Medusozoa
Citation
Usage of data from the World List of Myxozoa in scientific publications should be acknowledged by citing as follows:- Whipps, C.W.; Atkinson, S.D.; Hoeksema, B.W. (2025). World List of Myxozoa. Accessed at https://www.marinespecies.org/myxozoa on 2025-06-07
Individual pages are individually authored and dated. These can be cited separately: the proper citation is provided at the bottom of each page.
References
Eszterbauer, E., Atkinson, S., Diamant, A., Morris, D., El-Matbouli, M., & Hartikainen, H. (2015). Myxozoan life cycles: practical approaches and insights. Myxozoan evolution, ecology and development, 175-198.
Fiala, I., Bartošová-Sojková, P., Whipps, C.M. (2015) Classification and phylogenetics of Myxozoa. In: Okamura, B. et al. (eds.), Myxozoan Evolution, Ecology and Development. Pp. 85–110. Springer, Switzerland.
Kent, M. L., Andree, K. B., Bartholomew, J. L., El-Matbouli, M., Desser, S. S., Devlin, R. H., Feist, S. W., Hedrick, R. P., Hoffmann, R. W., Khattra, J., Hallett, S. L., Lester, R. J. G., Longshaw, M., Palenzeula, O., Siddall, M. E. & Xiao, C. (2001) Recent advances in our understanding of the Myxozoa. J. Eukaryot. Microbiol., 48:395--413.
Mackenzie, K., Kalavati, C. (2014) Myxosporean parasites of marine fishes: their distribution in the world's oceans. Parasitology 141: 1709–1717. doi:10.1017/s0031182014001425
Miller, T.L. (2024) Myxozoa (Subphylum). In: Gardner, S.L. & Gardner, S.A. (eds.) Concepts in Animal Parasitology. Pp. 208–215. Zea Books, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. doi:10.32873/unl.dc.ciap013
Okamura, B., Gruhl, A., Bartholomew, J.L. (2015) An introduction to myxozoan evolution, ecology and development. In: Okamura, B. et al. (eds.), Myxozoan Evolution, Ecology and Development. Pp. 1–20. Springer, Switzerland.
WoRMS Editorial Board (2025) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ. Accessed 2025-01-01. doi:10.14284/170