proposed the name Acanthocephala. Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller independently called them Echinorhynchus in 1776. Karl Rudolphi in 1809 formally named them Acanthocephala.

Evolutionary history

The oldest known member of the group is the Middle Jurassic (living approximately 165 million years ago) taxon Juracanthocephalus daohugouensis known from