Fasciola hepatica, also known as the common liver fluke or sheep liver fluke, is a parasitic trematode of the class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes.FasciolahepaticaFromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopediaJumptonavigationJumptosearchSpeciesofflukeThisarticleisabouttheorganism.Fortheinfection,seeFasciolosis.FasciolahepaticaAdultFasciolahepaticaspecimenScientificclassificationKingdom:AnimaliaPhylum:PlatyhelminthesClass:RhabditophoraOrder:PlagiorchiidaFamily:FasciolidaeGenus:FasciolaSpecies:F. hepaticaBinomialnameFasciolahepaticaLinnaeus,1758[1]Fasciolahepatica,alsoknownasthecommonliverflukeorsheepliverfluke,isaparasitictrematode(flukeorflatworm,atypeofhelminth)oftheclassTrematoda,phylumPlatyhelminthes.Itinfectstheliversofvariousmammals,includinghumans,andistransmittedbysheepandcattletohumanstheworldover.Thediseasecausedbytheflukeiscalledfasciolosisorfascioliasis,whichisatypeofhelminthiasisandhasbeenclassifiedasaneglectedtropicaldisease.[2]Fasciolosisiscurrentlyclassifiedasaplant/food-bornetrematodeinfection,oftenacquiredthrougheatingtheparasite'smetacercariaeencystedonplants.[3]F.hepatica,whichisdistributedworldwide,hasbeenknownasanimportantparasiteofsheepandcattlefordecadesandcausessignificanteconomiclossesintheselivestockspecies,upto£23millionintheUKalone.[4]Becauseofitsrelativelylargesizeandeconomicimportance,ithasbeenthesubjectofmanyscientificinvestigationsandmaybethebest-knownofanytrematodespecies.F.hepatica'sclosestrelativeisFasciolagigantica.Thesetwoflukesaresisterspecies;theysharemanymorphologicalfeaturesandcanmatewitheachother.[5]Contents1Lifecycle2Morphologyandanatomy2.1Tegument2.2Digestivesystem2.3Respiratorysystem2.4Excretorysystem2.5Nervoussystemandsensoryorgans2.6Reproductivesystem2.7Genome3Prevalence4Parasiticadaptations5Epidemiology6Fasciolosis7Diagnosis8Seealso9References10ExternallinksLifecycle[edit]Galbatruncatula,anamphibiousfreshwaterlymnaeidsnailthatservesasthemainintermediatehostofFasciolahepaticainEuropeThelifecycleofFasciolahepaticaFasciolahepaticao