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Is the Turbellaria polyphyletic?

  • Phylogeny
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Abstract

Within the last two decades, syntheses of both light-microscopic and ultrastructural characters have shown that there are three well-defined monophyletic groups within the Platyhelminthes: 1) the Catenulidale, 2) the Nemertodermatida-Acoela, and 3) the Haplopharyngida-Macrostomida-Polycladida-Neoophora (+ parasitic platyhelminth classes). However, the relationships among these three groups are problematic. The possible apomorphies that would unite them are either not true homologues (i.e. frontal organ), are mutually conflicting (i.e. 9+1 axoneme in spermatozoa vs. biflagellate spermatozoa, epidermal ciliary rootlet structure, and protonephridia), or are unrooted with any outgroup and hence untestable or uncertain as apomorphies (protonephridia, mode of epidermal replacement, absence of accessory centrioles on cilia). The chief obstacle to deciphering the relationships of these groups is the lack of information on them; presently available information is insufficient to test potential synapomorphies and insufficient also to allow agreement upon a narrowly defined outgroup for the Turbellaria.

A view consistent with the present evidence (and admittedly an unsatisfactory view) is to regard the Turbellaria (and hence the Platyhelminthes) as polyphyletic, consisting of three separate and unrelatable groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Maine, 04469, Orono, ME, USA

    Julian P. S. Smith III & Seth Teyler

  2. Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, 27514, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Reinhard M. Rieger

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  1. Julian P. S. Smith III
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  2. Seth Teyler
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  3. Reinhard M. Rieger
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Smith, J.P.S., Teyler, S. & Rieger, R.M. Is the Turbellaria polyphyletic?. Hydrobiologia 132, 13–21 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00046223

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