Orders out of chaos - molecular phylogenetics reveals the complexity of shark and stingray tapeworm relationships

- Novel molecular data for two genes are provided for 82 species of elasmobranch cestodes.
- Phylogenetic analyses result in further dismantling of the speciose order Tetraphyllidea.
- Two new cestode orders are erected, the Phyllobothriidea and Onchoproteocephalidea.
- The Proteocephalidea is subsumed in the Onchoproteocephalidea.
- Cestodes of elasmobranchs are found to have played a key role in the evolution of cestodes overall.