Phillips, Anna J.
Research Zoologist and Curator of Clitellata and parasitic worms
0000-0003-4883-0022
Phillips, Anna J.
Research Zoologist and Curator of Clitellata and parasitic worms
Biodiversity, phylogenetic relationships, and evolutionary history of parasitic worms, with emphasis on leeches and tapeworms
Geographic Focus
Background And Education
Education And Training
- Ph.D. in Biology, City University of New York 2011
- B.S. in Biology, Appalachian State University , University Honors 2006
Awards And Honors
- Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Award, conferred by Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Awards, 2017
- Best Presentation Award, conferred by New England Association of Parasitologists, 2011
- Best Student Presentation Award , conferred by American Society of Parasitologists, 2008
- Student Research Award in Aquatic Biology , conferred by Association of Southeastern Biologists, 2006
Research And Grants
Research Overview
- Alpha-taxonomy, revisionary systematics, evolution and host associations of cyclophyllidean tapeworms (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea) and leeches (Annelida: Clitellata: Hirudinea) employing morphological and molecular data using specimens from expeditionary fieldwork and scientific collections
Co-principal Investigator On
Publications
Selected Publications
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Article
- Kennedy, Nat, Kvist, Sebastian, Oceguera‐Figueroa, Alejandro, Phillips, Anna J., Stacey, Donald F., and De Carle, Danielle. 2024. "A phylogeographic analysis of the North American medicinal leech, Macrobdella decora (Say, 1824)." Zoologica Scripta, https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12692. 2024
- Kuchta, Roman, Phillips, Anna J., and Scholz, Tomáš. 2024. "Diversity and biology of Spirometra tapeworms (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidea), zoonotic parasites of wildlife: A review." International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2024.100947. 2024
- Bernot, James P., Boxshall, Geoffrey A., Goetz, Freya E., and Phillips, Anna J. 2024. "MicroCT illuminates the unique morphology of Shiinoidae (Copepoda: Cyclopoida), an unusual group of fish parasites." PeerJ, 12. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.16966. 2024
- Phillips, Anna J. and Goetz, Freya E. 2023. "Comparative reproductive morphology of two species of Macrobdella (Hirudinea: Arhynchobdellida: Macrobdellidae)." Zoomorphology, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-023-00596-6. 2023
- Weinersmith, Kelly L., Smythe, Ashleigh B., and Phillips, Anna J. 2023. "Presentation of the 2023 ASP Distinguished Service Award to John Hawdon." Journal of Parasitology, 109, (6). https://doi.org/10.1645/23-68. 2023
- Reilly, Jason M., Ashton, Don T., Holley, James P., McClarnon, Max C., Moser, William E., and Phillips, Anna J. 2023. "Rogue Turtles with Exotic Leeches: The Northwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) as a host for the common North American Turtle Leech (Placobdella parasitica)." Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 18, (3) 529–539. 2023
- Moser, William E., Richardson, Dennis J., Hammond, Charlotte I., Rojas, Lourdes, Lazo-Wasem, Eric, and Phillips, Anna J. 2022. "Resurrection and redescription of Clepsine pallida Verrill, 1872 (Hirudinida, Glossiphoniidae) with a phylogeny of the genus Alboglossiphonia." ZooKeys, 1127 135–154. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1127.86004. 2022
- Williams, Bronwyn W. and Phillips, Anna J. 2021. "A new species of Pterodrilus (Branchiobdellida: Clitellata) from the upper Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin of North Carolina." Journal of Natural History, 55, (23-24) 1491–1498. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2021.1949505. 2021
- Parker, Elyse, Jones, Christopher D., Arana, Patricio M., Alegría, Nicolás A., Sarralde, Roberto, Gallardo, Francisco, Phillips, Anna J., Williams, Bronwyn W., and Dornburg, Alex. 2020. "Infestation dynamics between parasitic Antarctic fish leeches (Piscicolidae) and their crocodile icefish hosts (Channichthyidae)." Polar Biology, 43 665–677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02670-x. 2020
- Carlson, Colin J. and Phillips, Anna J. 2020. "Is the New England medicinal leech (Macrobdella sestertia) extinct?" Biological Conservation, 243 UNSP 108495–UNSP 108495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108495. 2020
- Phillips, Anna J., Govedich, Fredric R., and Moser, William E. 2020. "Leeches in the extreme: Morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to inhospitable habitats." International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 12 318–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.09.003. 2020
- Richardson, Dennis J., Hammond, Charlotte I., Moser, William E., Phillips, Anna J., Lazo-Wasem, Eric, and Barger, Michael A. 2020. "Molecular Variation and Biogeography of the Common North American Turtle Leech, Placobdella parasitica." Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 61, (2) 83–95. https://doi.org/10.3374/014.061.0201. 2020
- Carlson, Colin J., Dallas, Tad A., Alexander, Laura W., Phelan, Alexandra L., and Phillips, Anna J. 2020. "What would it take to describe the global diversity of parasites?" Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287, (1939). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1841. 2020
- Phillips, Anna J., Dornburg, Alex, Zapfe, Katerina L., Anderson, Frank E., James, Samuel W., Erseus, Christer, Lemmon, Emily Moriarty, Lemmon, Alan R., and Williams, Bronwyn W. 2019. "Editor's Note: Phylogenomic Analysis of a Putative Missing Link Sparks Reinterpretation of Leech Evolution." Genome Biology and Evolution, 11, (11) 3275. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz247. 2019
- Phillips, Anna J., Dornburg, Alex, Zapfe, Katerina L., Anderson, Frank E., James, Samuel W., Erséus, Christer, Moriarty Lemmon, Emily, Lemmon, Alan R., and Williams, Bronwyn W. 2019. "Expression of concern: Phylogenomic Analysis of a Putative Missing Link Sparks Reinterpretation of Leech Evolution." Genome Biology and Evolution, 11, (7) 1882. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz145. 2019
- Phillips, Anna J., Salas-Montiel, Ricardo, Kvist, Sebastian, and Oceguera-Figueroa, Alejandro. 2019. "Phylogenetic Position and Description of a New Species of Medicinal Leech from the Eastern United States." Journal of Parasitology, 105, (4) 587–597. https://doi.org/10.1645/18-119. 2019
- Phillips, Anna J., Dornburg, Alex, Zapfe, Katerina L., Anderson, Frank E., James, Samuel W., Erséus, Christer, Lemmon, Emily Moriarty, Lemmon, Alan R., and Williams, Bronwyn W. 2019. "Phylogenomic Analysis of a Putative Missing Link Sparks Reinterpretation of Leech Evolution." Genome Biology and Evolution, 11, (11) 3082–3093. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz120. 2019
- Phillips, Anna J. 2018. "Introduction of Asp President 2017-2018, Dr. Susan Perkins." Journal of Parasitology, 104, (6) 577–578. https://doi.org/10.1645/18-145. 2018
- Phillips, Anna J., Williams, Bronwyn W., and Braswell, Alvin L. 2018. "Observations of Cocoon Deposition, Emergence, and Feeding in Philobdella floridana (Verrill)." Southeastern Naturalist, 17, (4) N90–N94. https://doi.org/10.1656/058.017.0418. 2018
- Bell, Kayce C., Carlson, Colin J., and Phillips, Anna J. 2018. "Parasite Collections: Overlooked Resources for Integrative Research and Conservation." Trends in parasitology, 34, (8) 637–639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2018.04.004. 2018
- Dheilly, Nolwenn M., Bolnick, Daniel, Bordenstein, Seth, Brindley, Paul J., Figuères, Cédric, Holmes, Edward C., Martínez Martínez, Joaquín, Phillips, Anna J., Poulin, Robert, and Rosario, Karyna. 2017. "Parasite Microbiome Project: Systematic Investigation of Microbiome Dynamics within and across Parasite-Host Interactions." mSystems, 2, (4). https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.00050-17. 2017
- Carlson, Colin J., Burgio, Kevin R., Dougherty, Eric R., Phillips, Anna J., Bueno, Veronica M., Clements, Christopher F., Castaldo, Giovanni, Dallas, Tad A., Cizauskas, Carrie A., Cumming, Graeme S., Doña, Jorge, Harris, Nyeema C., Jovani, Roger, Mironov, Sergey, Muellerklein, Oliver C., Proctor, Heather C., and Getz, Wayne M. 2017. "Parasite biodiversity faces extinction and redistribution in a changing climate." Science Advances, 3, (9). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602422. 2017
- Cizauskas, Carrie A., Carlson, Colin J., Burgio, Kevin R., Clements, Chris F., Dougherty, Eric R., Harris, Nyeema C., and Phillips, Anna J. 2017. "Parasite vulnerability to climate change: an evidence-based functional trait approach." Royal Society Open Science, 4, (1) 160535. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160535. 2017
- Salas-Montiel, Ricardo, Phillips, Anna J., Contreras-Mirón, Samantha, and Oceguera-Figueroa, Alejandro. 2017. "Prevalence, Abundance, and Intensity of Implanted Spermatophores in the Leech Haementeria officinalis (Glossiphoniidae: Hirudinida) from Guanajuato, Mexico." The Journal of Parasitology, 103, (1) 47–51. https://doi.org/10.1645/16-56. 2017
- Moser, William E., Richardson, Dennis J., Hammond, Charlotte I., Lazo-Wasem, Eric A., and Phillips, Anna J. 2017. "Redescription and Molecular Characterization of Placobdella nuchalis Sawyer and Shelley, 1976 (Hirudinida: Glossiphoniidae)." Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 58, (2) 311–316. https://doi.org/10.3374/014.058.0204. 2017
- Curran, Stephen S., Phillips, Anna J., Overstreet, Robin M., Benz, George W., and Henningsen, Alan D. 2016. "Austrobdella cairae n. sp., an Oioxenous Marine Leech (Clitellata: Piscicolidae) from the Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata, in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean." The Journal of Parasitology, 102, (2) 179–186. https://doi.org/10.1645/15-829. 2016
- Phillips, Anna J., Salas-Montiel, Ricardo, and Oceguera-Figueroa, Alejandro. 2016. "Distribution of the New England Medicinal Leech, Macrobdella sestertia Whitman, 1886 and redeterminations of specimens of Macrobdella (Annelida: Clitellata: Macrobdellidae) at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution." Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 103–113. https://doi.org/10.2988/0006-324X-129.Q2.103. 2016
- Cook, Joseph A., Greiman, Stephen E., Agosta, Salvatore J., Anderson, Robert P., Arbogast, Brian S., Baker, Robert J., Boeger, Walter, Bradley, Robert D., Brooks, Daniel R., Cole, Rebecca, Demboski, John R., Dobson, Andrew P., Dunnum, Jonathan L., Eckerlin, Ralph P., Esselstyn, Jacob, Galbreath, Kurt E., Hawdon, John, Hoekstra, Hopi E., Kutz, Susan J., Light, Jessica E., Olson, Link E., Patterson, Bruce D., Patton, James L., Phillips, Anna J., Rickart, Eric et al. 2016. "Transformational Principles for NEON Sampling of Mammalian Parasites and Pathogens: A Response to Springer and Colleagues." Bioscience, 66, (11) 917–919. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biw123. 2016
- Salas-Montiel, Ricardo, Phillips, Anna J., De Leon, Gerardo Perez-Ponce, and Oceguera-Figueroa, Alejandro. 2014. "Description of a new leech species of Helobdella (Clitellata: Glossiphoniidae) from Mexico with a review of Mexican congeners and a taxonomic key." Zootaxa, 3900, (1) 77. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3900.1.4. 2014
- Phillips, Anna J., Oceguera Figueroa, Alejandro, Flores, Gisela M., Armenta, Jossué J., and Montiel, Ricardo S. 2014. "Entonces tú eres acaso el conocedor de la sanguijuela? [Then you are perhaps a leech expert?]." Revista Digital Universitaria, 15, (4) 1607–6079. 2014
- Hoberg, Eric P. and Phillips, Anna J. 2014. "Transfer of the US-National Parasite Collection." Folia Parasitologica, 61, (4) 370–370. 2014
- Phillips, Anna J., Georgiev, Boyko B., Waesehenbach, Andrea, and Mariaux, Jean. 2014. "Two new and two redescribed species of Anonchotaenia (Cestoda: Paruterinidae) from South American birds." Folia Parasitologica, 61, (5) 441–461. https://doi.org/10.14411/fp.2014.058. 2014
- Phillips, A. J., Mariaux, J., and Georgiev, B. B. 2012. "Cucolepis cincta gen. n., sp. n. (Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea) from the Squirrel Cuckoo Piaya cayana Lesson (Aves: Cuculiformes) from Paraguay." Folia Parasitologica, 59, (4) 287–294. 2012
- Siddall, M. E., Kvist, S., Phillips, A. J., and Oceguera-Figueroa, A. F. 2012. "DNA Barcoding of parasitic nematodes: Is it kosher?" The Journal of Parasitology, 98, (3) 692–694. https://doi.org/10.1645/GE-2994.1. 2012
- Phillips, A. J. 2012. "Phylogenetic placement of a new species of Asian buffalo leech (Arhynchobdellida : Hirudinidae), and confirmation of human-mediated dispersal of a congener to the Caribbean." Invertebrate Systematics, 26 293–302. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS12004. 2012
- Siddall, M. E., Min, G. S., Fontanella, F. M., Phillips, A. J., and Watson, S. C. 2011. "Bacterial symbiont and salivary peptide evolution in the context of leech phylogeny." Parasitology, 138, (13) 1815–1827. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182011000539. 2011
- Moser, William E., Klemm, Donald, Phillips, Anna, Trauth, Stanley, Neal, Robert, Stanley, Jonathan, Connior, Matthew, and Flotemersch, Joseph. 2011. "Distribution of the Genus Philobdella (Macrobdellidae: Hirudinida), Including New Locality Records from Arkansas and Oklahoma." Comparative Parasitology, 78, (2) 387–391. https://doi.org/10.1654/4507.1. 2011
- Oceguera-Figueroa, A., Phillips, A. J., Pacheco-Chaves, B., and Siddall, M. E. 2011. "Phylogeny of macrophagous leeches (Hirudinea, Clitellata) based on molecular data and evaluation of the barcoding locus." Zoologica Scripta, 40, (2) 194–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2010.00465.x. 2011
- Phillips, A. J., Oosthuizen, J. H., and Siddall, M. E. 2011. "Re-description, phylogenetic placement, and taxonomic reassignment of Mesobdella lineata (Sciacchitano, 1959) (Hirudinida: Arhynchobdellida)." American Museum Novitates, (3711) 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1206/3711.2. 2011
- Phillips, A. J., Arauco-Brown, R., Oceguera-Figueroa, A., Gomez, G. P., Beltrán, M., and Siddall, M. E. 2010. "Tyrannobdella rex n. gen. n. sp. and the evolutionary origins of mucosal leech infestations." PLoS One, 5, (4) e10057. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010057. 2010
- Phillips, A. J. and Siddall, M. E. 2009. "Poly-paraphyly of Hirudinidae: many lineages of medicinal leeches." BMC Evolutionary Biology, 9 246. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-9-246. 2009
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Chapter
- Mariaux, J., Tkach, V. V., Vasileva, G. P., Waeschenbach, A., Beveridge, I., Dimitrova, Y., Haukisalmi, V., Greiman, S. E., Littlewood, D. T., Makarikov, A. A., Phillips, A. J., and R. 2017. "Cyclophyllidea." In Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (PBI): Tapeworms from vertebrate bowels of the earth (2008 – 2017). Caira, J. N. and Jensen, K., editors. 77–148. University of Kansas Natural History Museum Special Publication No. 25. 2017
- Moser, William E., Govedich, F. R., Oceguera-Figueroa, A., Richardson, D. J., and Phillips, A. J. 2016. "Annelida, Subclass Hirudinida." In Keys to Nearctic Fauna: Volume II, Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates. Thorp, James H. and Rogers, D. Christopher, editors. 244–259. Amsterdam: Academic Press. 2016
Collection Or Series Editor For
- Journal of Natural History (Journal) 2018 -
Activities
Responsible Collections Areas
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Clitellata ("oligochaetes", leeches)
Acanthocephala
Chaetognatha
Gastrotricha
Gnathostomulida
Kinorhyncha
Loricifera
“meiofauna”
Nemertea
Nematoda
Nematomorpha
Platyhelminthes
Phoronida
Priapulida
Rotifera
Tardigrada
parasitic protozoans
Organizer Of Event
Professional Service Activities
- American Society of Parasitologists Lectureship Committee 2018 -
- Journal of Natural History Associate Editor 2017 -
- Helminthological Society of Washington Recording Secretary 2015 -
- American Society of Parasitologists Meeting Site Selection Committee 2015 - 2018
- New England Association of Parasitologists Membership Committee 2013 - 2016
- New England Association of Parasitologists Secretary 2013 - 2015
Affiliation
Member Of
Contact
Location
- National Museum of Natural History Academic Department
