aschelminth

The Aschelminthes (Aeschelminthes or Nemathelminthes), closely associated with the Platyhelminthes, are an obsolete phylum of pseudocoelomate and other similar animals that are no longer considered closely related and have been promoted to phyla in their own right. The term Aschelminth is now generally only used as an informal name for any member of the approximately ten different invertebrate phyla formerly included within Aschelminthes.

It is a polyphyletic group.{{cite journal |vauthors=Winnepenninckx B, Backeljau T, Mackey LY |title=18S rRNA data indicate that Aschelminthes are polyphyletic in origin and consist of at least three distinct clades |journal=Mol. Biol. Evol. |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=1132–7 |date=November 1995 |pmid=8524046 |doi= 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040287|display-authors=etal|doi-access=free }}

Subdivisions

Although invertebrate experts{{cite web |title=Introduction to the "Aschelminth" Phyla |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aschelminthes/aschelminthes.html |website=University of California Museum of Paleontology}} do not necessarily agree on these categorizations, groups that are generally incorporated into Aschelminthes include:

Gastrotricha

Gnathifera

Nematoidea

Scalidophora

In addition, Cycliophora, Entoprocta{{cite journal |title=The New View of Animal Phylogeny

|author=Kenneth M. Halanych |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |year=2004 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=229–256 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.112202.130124 }} and Tardigrada are sometimes included.{{Cite book |last=M. |first=Kinchin, Ian |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/702705558 |title=The biology of tardigrades |date=1994 |publisher=Portland Press |isbn=1-85578-043-7 |pages=10 |oclc=702705558}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090820060840/http://www.ltcconline.net/kloss/bio212/ch__11.htm Aschelminth information page] (archived from [http://www.ltcconline.net/kloss/bio212/ch__11.htm the original] on 2009-08-20)

Category:Obsolete animal taxa