Rhabditophora

Rhabditophora
Temporal range: 508–0 Ma
Macrostomum lignano, a rhabditophoran
Macrostomum lignano, a rhabditophoran
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Platyhelminthes
Subphylum: Rhabditophora
Ehlers, 1985
Subgroups

See text

Rhabditophora (from rhabdito-, rhabdite + Greek -φορος [-phoros], bearer, i.e., "rhabdite bearers") is a subphylum (previously a class) of flatworms. It includes all parasitic flatworms (clade Neodermata) and most free-living species that were previously grouped in the now obsolete class Turbellaria. Therefore, it contains the majority of the species in the phylum Platyhelminthes, excluding only the catenulids, to which they appear to be the sister group.

The clade Rhabditophora was originally erected by Ulrich Ehlers in 1985[1] based on morphological analyses and its monophyly was later confirmed by molecular studies.[2]

  1. ^ Ehlers, U. (1985) Phylogenetic relationships within the Platyhelminthes. In S. Conway Morris; J. D. George; R. Gibson; H. M. Platt (Eds.), The origins and relationships of lower invertebrates. Oxford, Clarendon Press, p. 143-158.
  2. ^ Larsson, K; Jondelius, U (2008). "Phylogeny of the Catenulida and support for Platyhelminthes". Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 8 (5): 378–387. Bibcode:2008ODivE...8..378L. doi:10.1016/j.ode.2008.09.002.