Neodermata

Neodermata is a clade of rhabditophoran flatworms containing the parasitic groups Trematoda, Monogenea and Cestoda.

Neodermata
Fasciola hepatica, a neodermatan
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Platyhelminthes
Subphylum:	Rhabditophora
Superclass:	Neodermata Ehlers, 1985 [1]
Orders
Trematoda Monogenea Cestoda

Description

All neodermatans are parasites, in many groups having a free-swimming larval stage. The most striking feature uniting all neodermatans is that the ciliated epidermis (typical of most flatworms) is cast off in adult worms, being replaced by a syncytium called tegument or neodermis. Other characters found in all neodermatans are related to the anatomy of the protonephridium and the rootlets of epidermal locomotory cilia.^[2]

Phylogeny

Currently, the monophyly of Neodermata is undisputed, being supported by both morphological and molecular data.^[3] It is clear that they evolved from free-living flatworms (turbellarians), but their sister-group was for a long time a matter of debate. The first attempts to reconstruct the phylogeny of flatworms, based on morphological evidence, considered Rhabdocoela to be the sister-group of Neodermata, but this was based on weak morphological similarities and was not supported by molecular studies.^[4]

The most recent evidences put the order Bothrioplanida as the sister-group of Neodermata, uniting them in a clade called Bothrioneodermata.^[4]

References

1. Ehlers, Ulrich (1985). Das phylogenetische System der Plathelminthes (in German). Stuttgart ; New York: G. Fischer. ISBN 978-3-437-30499-6.
2. Rohde, K. (1990). "Phylogeny of platyhelminthes, with special reference to parasitic groups". International Journal for Parasitology. 20 (8): 979–1007. doi:10.1016/0020-7519(90)90041-K. ISSN 0020-7519. PMID 2074143.
3. Littlewood, D. T. J.; Rohde, K.; Bray, R. A.; Herniou, E. A. (1999). "Phylogeny of the Platyhelminthes and the evolution of parasitism". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 68 (1–2): 257–287. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1999.tb01169.x. ISSN 0024-4066.
4. Egger, B.; Lapraz, F.; Tomiczek, B.; Müller, S.; Dessimoz, C.; Girstmair, J.; Škunca, N.; Rawlinson, K. A.; Cameron, C. B.; Beli, E.; Todaro, M. A.; Gammoudi, M.; Norẽna, C.; Telford, M. (2015). "A transcriptomic-phylogenomic analysis of the evolutionary relationships of flatworms". Current Biology. 25 (10): 1347–1353. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.03.034. PMC 4446793. PMID 25866392.