Pan-American marine coastal distribution of the acanthocephalan Profilicollis altmani based on morphometric and phylogenetic analyses of cystacanths from the mole crab Emerita brasiliensis.

Thorny-headed acanthocephalan worms of the genus Profilicollis are widely distributed in the oceans of the world and present complex life cycles with intermediate and definitive hosts. The genus is still poorly known, with an unstable taxonomy and, for most species, incompletely characterized geographical distributions. In this study, based on molecular and morphological evidence, we report that the species Profilicollis altmani is also distributed along the South American Atlantic coast, using the mole crab Emerita brasiliensis as an intermediate host. As such, our record shows that P. altmani has a Pan-American distribution where five species of Emerita are utilized as intermediate hosts.