Main Content

The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 7064

James R. Garey, Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa, Thomas J. Near, and Steven A. Nadler; The evolutionary relationships of rotifers and acanthocephalans. Hydrobiologia 387/388:83-91, 1998

Reprint

In File

Notes

Advances in morphological and molecular studies of metazoan evolution have led to a better understanding of the relationships among Rotifera (Monogononta, Bdelloidea, Seisonidea) and Acanthocephala, and their relationships to other bilateral animals. The most accepted morphological analysis places Acanthocephala as a sister group to Rotifera, although other studies have placed Acanthocephala as a sister taxon to Bdelloidea or Seisonidea. Molecular analyses using nuclear 18S rRNA and mitochondrial 16S rRNA genes support Acanthocephala as a sister taxon to Bdelloidea, although no molecular data is available for Seisonidea. Combining molecular and morphological analyses of Bilateria leads to a tree with Platyhelminthes, Rotifera, Acanthocephala and Gnathostomulida (and probably Gastrotricha) as a sister group to the annelid-mollusc lineage of the Spiralia (Lophotrochozoa).