PHYLUM PLATYHELMINTHES

MADE BY: SOLIS, Emmanuel TRINIDAD, Sean Michael 2-KRYPTON

Nembrotha cristata

General Characteristics
 A well-developed nervous system is present    

in flat worms. Respiratory and circulatory systems are absent. Much of the body space is taken up by a branching sac type digestive system. The digestive system is poorly developed in some species or may be absent. They reproduce by both sexual and asexual methods.

General Characteristics
 Platy + helminthes = flat worm, all are dorso   

ventrally flattened. Bilaterally symmetrical Because they have soft bodies, there is virtually no fossil record. 1/4 inch segments, white or yellowish in color. There are about 20,000 species of flat worms living in marine, freshwater and damp terrestial habitats.

General Characteristics
 The parasitic species absorb nutrients from the     

hosts. The free-living species feed on animals and bodies of dead and decaying animals. The free-living forms are motile. They move by cilia present on their undersides. Mostly they feed on animals and other smaller life forms. Reproduction mostly sexual as hermaphrodites. Possesses a blind gut. Has Protonephridial excretory organ instead of an anus.

Classifications
 Class Turbellaria  Class Monogenea  Class Trematoda  Class Cestoda

Class Turbellaria Bipalium kewense kewense

Class Turbellaria
The Tubellaria are free living or commensal with larger animals. They are the most primitive of the Platyhelminthes, and as far as we know the other three classes of Platyhelminthes all evolved from the Turbellarians.  Types of Class Turbellaria:  The Acoela  The Macrostomida  The Polycladida  The Tricladida  The Temnocephalida

The Acoela

The Acoela
 They are the simplest of the Turbellarians in

that they lack intestines and oviducts.  As adults they live in a sort of symbiosis with flagellated algae of the genus Chlamydomonas.  The algae are eaten but not digested, so that they live in the body of the worm.

The Macrostomida

The Macrostomida
 They occur in both marine and fresh waters.  Macrostomum lineare which will feed on the

polyps of freshwater Cnidarians.  When it does so it absorbs the Cnidarians nematocysts and secretes them in its own skin so that they can protect it.

The Polycladida

The Polycladida
 The Polyclads are often attractive and

colourful worms mostly limited to benthic (sea floor) marine environments, though a few planktonic (near the sea surface) species are less brightly coloured.

Tricladida

Tricladida
 Triclads are among the best known and most

fully studied of the non-parasitic Platyhelminthes.  Fresh water triclads are best known for their ability to regenerate after being damage and to survive being mutilated.  Some species will survive being cut into 3 parts, with each part growing into a new organism.

Temnocephalida

Temnocephalida
 The Temnocephalids are perhaps the most

advanced group of the Tubellaria in terms of evolution.  All the species in this group are either commensals or parasites.

Class Monogenea
 The class monogenea is distinguished by

most of its members being ectoparasite (live outside the body of the host), whereas Digeneans and Cestodes are all endoparasites (live inside the body of the host).  Monogeneans have an indirect life-cycle, meaning the always have more than one host species and the animal lives in separate hosts during different stages of its life.

Class Monogenea

Class Trematoda

Class Trematoda
 Class Trematoda contains two subclasses,

one of which, the Digenea is a large and successful group with much economic importance to mankind.  The second subclass is the Aspidogastrea which are a small group of absolutely no economic importance to mankind.

The Digenea(Flukes)

The Digenea(Flukes)
 Digeneans as adults are flat worm shaped

animals, which have two sucker.  The first is the oral sucker, around the mouth.  The second is found a little way further down the animals body and it has only one function, that of attachment.

The Aspidogastrea

The Aspidogastrea
 They are all aquatic and as far as we know

they all have indirect life cycles, meaning they have more than one host species.  Some species however reach maturity in the invertebrate host, and it must be remembered that there are number of species in this group that we know very little about.

Class Cestoda(Tapeworms)

Class Cestoda(Tapeworms)
 Tapeworms are the most specialised of the

Platyhelminthe parasites.  All cestodes have at least one, and sometimes more than one, secondary or intermediate host as well as their primary host.  The mature cestodes always lives in the hosts intestines where it can obtain all its food for free.

The End!!!
 The End!!!