Life cycles of the tetraphyllideans are poorly understood, because of the difficulty of experimental confirmation of complex, totally marine life cycles. The life cycle is believed to resemble that of pseudophyllidean cestodes. The adult lives in the spiral valve of elasmobranchs. Its eggs hatch in seawater to release a coracidium, which swims until being eaten by a first intermediate host. Within the first intermediate host it probably develops into a procercoid, which can then infect a second intermediate host, possibly developing into a cysticercoid.