Unlike other tapeworms, the body of amphilinids is not divided into segments, instead being leaf-shaped and laterally flattened.

The larvae have ten wrench-shaped hooks and these are retained at the posterior end of the adult body.

[3] The adult stage of this tapeworm is found in the body cavity of the eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis),[5] and there may be as many as thirty worms in one turtle host.

It is uncertain how the worm's eggs are released into the open water, but somehow they do emerge.

[6] When the eggs hatch, the developing larvae seek out an intermediate host, a suitable freshwater crayfish, and penetrate its cuticle by chemical action and by sawing through the shell with miniature hooks.