A family of parasitic roundworms that includes the large intestinal roundworms that commonly infect humans and other vertebrates.
Modern Latin taxonomic name from 'Ascaris' (genus name, possibly from Greek 'askaris') plus the family suffix '-idae.' This scientific classification groups all related roundworm parasites.
Ascaridae worms have been with humans probably since we started living in settlements, and archaeologists have found parasite eggs in 5,000-year-old human remains—basically, roundworms colonized us right when we invented agriculture and stopped nomadic life.
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