Collections & Research Staff
Claire J. Healy
Associate Curator
B.S., Biological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 1996
M.S., Zoology, University of Connecticut, 2002
Ph.D., Zoology, University of Connecticut, 2006
Claire Healy is an Associate Curator of Invertebrate Zoology. She is also a cross-appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.
Claire’s lifelong fascination with invertebrates was sparked when she first handled moon snails and explored tide pools as a child on vacation in Maine. Her interests in zoology and marine biology led her to attend the University of Connecticut, where she studied invertebrate zoology and was immediately captivated by the study of parasites, biodiversity, and systematics. In addition to being a zoologist and a systematist specializing in the study of parasites, Claire is a taxonomist trained as part of a U.S. initiative to produce a new generation of taxonomists and modernize the science of taxonomy.
Claire’s research focuses on the diversity, evolutionary history, and comparative morphology of tapeworms (parasitic flatworms, also known as cestodes). She is particularly interested in the diverse groups of tapeworms that exclusively parasitize chondrichthyan fishes (the cartilaginous fishes, including chimaeras, sharks, and rays).
Claire’s research entails extensive fieldwork, which has led her to discover and describe numerous species new to science from localities around the world, including Senegal, Borneo, northern Australia, and New Zealand. Her work involves the study of morphological character evolution, ontogeny and homology, ultrastructure, molecular and morphological systematics, biogeography, and host-parasite associations. Techniques employed in her research include light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), histological sectioning, gene sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis of morphological and genetic data.
Recent Publications
| 2009 | Healy, C.J., J.N. Caira, K. Jensen, B.L. Webster, and D.T.J. Littlewood. “Proposal for a new tapeworm order, Rhinebothriidea.” International Journal for Parasitology. 39: 497-511. [To obtain a PDF of this article, email C. Healy] |
| 2006 | Healy, C.J. and D. Zanatta. “Backyard Biodiversity: The mussel behind Ontario's aquatic biodiversity. Charismatic creatures of Ontario's lakes, rivers, and streams.” Rotunda. Summer/Fall: 11-13. (PDF) |
| 2006 | Ruhnke, T.R., C.J. Healy, and S. Shapero. “Two new species of Paraorygmatobothrium (Cestoda: Tetraphyllidea) from hemigaleid sharks of Australia and Borneo.” Journal of Parasitology. 92: 145-150. (PDF) |
| 2006 | Healy, C.J. “Three new species of Rhinebothrium (Cestoda: Tetraphyllidea) from the freshwater whipray, Himantura chaophraya, in Malaysian Borneo.” Journal of Parasitology. 92: 364-374. (PDF) |
| 2004 | Caira, J.N. and C.J. Healy. “Elasmobranchs as hosts of metazoan parasites.”Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives. Ed. J.C. Carrier, J.A. Musick and M.R. Heithaus. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 523-551. (PDF) |
| 2003 | Healy, C.J. “A revision of Platybothrium Linton, 1890 (Tetraphyllidea: Onchobothriidae), with a phylogenetic analysis and comments on host-parasite associations.” Systematic Parasitology. 56: 85-139. (PDF) |
| 2001 | Healy, C.J., T. Scholz, and J.N. Caira. “Erudituncus n. gen. (Tetraphyllidea: Onchobothriidae) with a redescription of E. musteli (Yamaguti, 1952) n. comb. and comments on its hook homologies.” Journal of Parasitology. 87: 833-837. (PDF) |
| 2001 | Caira, J.N., K. Jensen and C.J. Healy. “Interrelationships among tetraphyllidean and lecanicephalidean cestodes.” Interrelationships of the Platyhelminthes. Ed. D.T.J. Littlewood and R. Bray. Taylor & Francis, London, pp. 135-158. (PDF) |
Research Projects
Global Cestode Database
Diversity, biogeography, and host associations of the tapeworms of sharks, rays, and chimeras of New Zealand
Galleries
Life in Crisis: Schad Gallery of Biodiversity
ROM Images
Shells
Other Links
University of Toronto Faculty Page
ROM Curator defines new order of tapeworms
Contact Information
Royal Ontario Museum
Department of Natural History
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C6
Tel: 416.586.8063
Fax: 416.586.5553
E-mail: claireh@rom.on.ca
Teaching a field course in Panama. © Chris Darling
Collecting parasites of sharks and rays on the beach in Ouakam (above), in Dakar, Senegal.
© J. Caira
Light micrographs of 6 adult tapeworm species that parasitize rays and their relatives. The worms range in size from 2-10 mm in length. These species, and about 200 others, were recently placed in a new order of tapeworms, the Rhinebothriidea, established by Claire and several colleagues. © Claire Healy
