Platyzoa

Platyzoa
Temporal range: Cambrian–Recent
Pseudobiceros bedfordi (Bedford's flatworm)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
Clade: ParaHoxozoa
Clade: Bilateria
Clade: Nephrozoa
(unranked): Protostomia
(unranked): Spiralia
Superphylum: Platyzoa
Cavalier-Smith, 1998
Phyla

The "Platyzoa" /ˌplætɪˈz.ə/ are a group of protostome unsegmented animals proposed by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 1998. Cavalier-Smith included in Platyzoa the phylum Platyhelminthes (or flatworms), and a new phylum, the Acanthognatha, into which he gathered several previously described phyla of microscopic animals. Later it has been described as paraphyletic, containing the Rouphozoa and the Gnathifera. Since 2022 it is believed that Platyozoa are monophyletic and also includes Mesozoa.