| Acoelomorphs | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Waminoa sp. on Plerogyra sp.. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Subkingdom: | Eumetazoa |
| (unranked): | Bilateria |
| Phylum: | Acoelomorpha Ehlers 1985 |
| Classes | |
The Acoelomorpha are a disputed phylum of animals with planula-like features and formerly considered to belong to the phylum Platyhelminthes, but recently classified by Jaume Baguñà and Marta Riutort as a separate phylum, basal among the Bilateria.[1]
The Acoela are very small flatworms that do not have a gut.[2] Digestion is accomplished by means of a syncytium that forms a vacuole around ingested food. There are no epithelial cells lining the digestive vacuole. All other bilateral animals have a gut lined with epithelial cells. As a result, the acoels appear to be solid-bodied (a-coel, or no body cavity). Acoels are almost entirely marine, living between grains of sediment, swimming as plankton, or crawling on algae. Acoels have a statocyst, which presumably helps them orient to gravity.
Their soft bodies make them difficult to classify.[3]
References
- ^ Baguñà J, Riutort M (2004) Molecular phylogeny of the Platyhelminthes. Can J Zool 82:168-193.
- ^ "The Platyhelminthes and the Acoela". http://devbio.umesci.maine.edu/styler/globalworming/platyhelm2003.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ Petrov A, Hooge M, Tyler S (May 2006). "Comparative morphology of the bursal nozzles in acoels (Acoela, Acoelomorpha)". J. Morphol. 267 (5): 634–48. doi:. PMID 16485278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor.10428.
External links
- Phylogeny of Lower Worms of the Meiofauna (Acoelomorpha)
- Acoelomorpha at the Turbellarian taxonomic database
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