Acoelomorpha Information & Acoelomorpha Links at HealthHaven.com

Acoelomorphs
	Waminoa sp. on Plerogyra sp..
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Subkingdom:	Eumetazoa;
(unranked):	Bilateria;
Phylum:	Acoelomorpha; Ehlers 1985
Classes
	Acoela; Nemertodermatida;

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]

[edit] 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:10.1002/jmor.10428. PMID 16485278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor.10428.

[edit] External links

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[0] Baguñà J, Riutort M (2004) Molecular phylogeny of the Platyhelminthes. Can J Zool 82:168-193.

[urlThe_Platyhelminthes_and_the_Acoela-1] "The Platyhelminthes and the Acoela". http://devbio.umesci.maine.edu/styler/globalworming/platyhelm2003.html. Retrieved 2009-03-21.

[pmid16485278-2] 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:10.1002/jmor.10428. PMID 16485278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor.10428.

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