A team of 22 tapeworm experts from 13 countries will conduct collections of tapeworms from the digestive tracts of vertebrates (i.e, birds, mammals, fishes, amphibians and reptiles, and sharks and rays) on land and in the waters of 20 countries globally. The project will likely yield approximately 1,600 to 1,700 tapeworm species new to science from previously unsampled vertebrates and geographic regions. DNA sequence data will be generated for 1,000 species, will be analyzed, and the results used to revise tapeworm classification. The existing Global Cestode Database will be expanded to include descriptions of all tapeworm species and enhanced to allow data entry from anywhere in the world.
The project website will provide public access to information on new and known tapeworm species, and to resources including a list of tapeworm specimens available in museums around the world, keys to aid in the identification of tapeworms, and check-lists of vertebrates and their tapeworms. The project will include 4 post-docs, 4 graduate and 4 undergraduate students, and will result in the generation of 5 children's books, narrated by "spokesworms," describing life for tapeworms in the various vertebrate groups. The project will ultimately lead to a global understanding of tapeworms and their hosts that is unprecedented for any host/parasite system to date.
