query: What kind of parasite is the tapeworm?
passage: Cestoda
Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species - and the best-known - are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbonlike worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of many similar units, known as proglottids, which are essentially packages of eggs which are regularly shed into the environment to infect other organisms. Species of the other subclass, Cestodaria, are mainly fish parasites.
passage: Giovanni Battista Grassi
Grassi was the first to demonstrate the life cycle of human dwarf tapeworm" Taenia nana", and that this tapeworm does not require an intermediate host, contrary to popular belief. He was the first to demonstrate the direct life cycle of the roundworm "Ascaris lumbricoides" by self-experimentation. He described canine filarial worm "Dipetalonema reconditum", and demonstrated the parasite life cycle in fleas, "Pulex irritans". He invented the genus of threadworms "Strongyloides". He named the spider "Koenenia mirabilis" in 1885 after his wife, Maria Koenen. He pioneered the foundation of pest control for phylloxera of grapes.