Simple Invertebrates Section 3

Section 3: Flatworms
Preview
• Bellringer
• Key Ideas
• Characteristics of Flatworms
• Groups of Flatworms
• Summary
Simple Invertebrates Section 3

Bellringer
Examine photos of tapeworms or other flatworms
and focus on the flattened body shape. Try to
name familiar examples of flatworms. There are
more than 18,000 species of flatworms, most of
which are parasitic.
Simple Invertebrates Section 3

Key Ideas
• What are the three important characteristics of
flatworms?

• What are three groups of modern flatworms, and is each

group free living or parasitic?
Simple Invertebrates Section 3

Characteristics of Flatworms
• The thin, flat body of flatworms is more complex than the
body of a sponge or cnidarian.

• Flatworms have bilateral symmetry, three tissue layers,

and cephalization--the concentration of nerve tissue at
an animal’s “head” end.

• Flatworms are the simplest type of bilaterally

symmetrical animal which means that their right and left
halves of their body are mirror images of each other.
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Characteristics of Flatworms, continued

• Flatworms have muscle tissue enabling them to be more
active predators than cnidarians.

• Free-living flatworms are carnivores that take in food

through a single body opening.

• Flatworms have neither a respiratory nor a circulatory

system. Gases pass through the body by diffusion.

• Flatworms reproduce sexually or asexually.

Simple Invertebrates Section 3
Visual Concept: Characteristics of
Flatworms
Simple Invertebrates Section 3

Groups of Flatworms
• Three major groups of modern flatworms include
turbellarians, most of which are free-living, and
tapeworms and flukes, which are parasitic.

• Species range in size from less than 1mm to many

meters in length.

• Most tuberbellarians are marine flatworms.

• Tapeworms are parasitic flatworms.

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Groups of Flatworms, continued

• Tapeworms grow by continuously producing a string of
body sections called proglottids behind their head.

• Each proglottid is a complete reproductive unit producing

egg and sperm.
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Visual Concept: Life Cycle of Tapeworms

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Groups of Flatworms, continued

• The life cycle of most flukes involves several hosts, one
of which may be a human.

• The disease schistosomiasis is a major public health

problem in Africa, Asia, South America, and some
Caribbean islands.

• Infection occurs when people drink, bathe in, or wade in

water contaminated with Schistosoma larvae.
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Visual Concept: Life Cycle of Flukes

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Summary
• Flatworms have bilateral symmetry, three embryonic
tissue layers, and cephalization.

• Three major groups of modern flatworms include

turbellarians, most of which are free-living, and
tapeworms and flukes, which are parasitic.