CHAPTER 8: THE TRIPLOBLASTIC, ACOELOMATE BODY PLAN

EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
The evolutionary relationship of the major phylum in this chapter is controversial
to other phyla is controversial .
I. PHYLUM PLATYHEMINTHES
- Flatworms are acoelomate with gastrovascular cavities
Characteristics
1. Usually lattened dorsally, triploblastic, acoelomate, bilateral symmetry
2. Unsegmented worms
3. Incomplete gut is usually present
4. With anterior erebral ganglion and longitudinal nerve cords
5. Complex reproductive organs
Classification
Class Tubellaria
- Mostly free-living and aquatic; external surface are usually ciliated;
mucous glands; hermaphroditic Ex. Convoluta, Notoplana, Dugesia
Movement
 The 1st group of bilaterally symmetrical animals to appear
 Bilateral symmetry is usually a characteristic of an active lifestyle
- Turbellarians glide over the substrate
- They use cilia and muscular undulations to move
- As they move, they lay down a sheet of mucus that aids in adhesion and
helps the cilia to gain traction
Digestion & Nutrition
 Some feed on small, live invertebrates or scavenge on larger, dead
animals
 Some are herbivores and feed on algae that they scrape from rocks
 Sensory receptors (chemoreceptors) found on their head help them to
detect food at considerable distances
 Digestion is primarily extracellular
 Pharyngeal glands secrete enzymes that help break down food.

Exchanges with the Environment

 Do not have respiratory organs thus they “breathe” through their body
walls by diffusion
- Wastes are also removed by diffusion
  In marine environments
- Inverts are in osmotic equilibrium
 In freshwater environments
- Inverts are hypertonic

Coping with Freshwater

 In order to move into bodies of freshwater turbellarians had to
develop something that would regulate their osmotic concentration
 They developed protonephridia
- Protos = 1st
- Nephros = kidney
- Networks of fine tubules that run the length of the turbellarian
Reproduction and Development
 Many produce asexually by transverse fission
 Fission usually begins with a constriction point behind the pharynx
 The two (or more) animals that result from fission are called zooids and they
regenerate the missing parts.
 Turbellarians are monoecious
- Reciprocal sperm exchange

Class Monogenera
- Monogenetci flukes; mostly ectoparasites on vertebrates; one-ife cycle form in
only one host Ex. Disocotyl, Gyrodactylus, Polystoma
Class Trematoda
- Trematodes; all are parasitic; have complicated life cycle involving sexual &
asexual reproduction; over 10,000 species
Subclass Aspidogastrea
o mostly endoparasites of mollusks; no oral sucker ex. Aspidogaster,
Cotylaspis
Subclass Digenea
o adult endoparasites in vertebrates; two different life-cycle form in two or
more hosts; have oral sucker and acetabulum ex. Schistosoma (blood
fluke), Fasciola (liver fluke), Echinostoma (intestinal fluke),
Gastrodiscoides (intestinal fluke), Clonorchis (Asiatic liver fluke),
Dicrocoelium (liver fluke), Opisthorchis (liver fluke), and Paragonimus
(lung fluke)
Trematode Parasites of Humans
  The Chinese Liver Fluke, Clonorchis sinensis, is a common human parasite in
Asia, where over 30 million people are infected.
 They live in the bile ducts of the liver where it feeds on epithelial tissue and
blood.
 Eggs are eliminated in the feces.
 People are infected by eating infected raw or undercooked fish (sushi, sashimi,
ceviche).
 Fasciola hepatica is called the sheep liver fluke because it is common in sheep
raising areas and uses sheep or humans as its definitive host
 Adults live in the bile ducts of the liver
 Snail – Plant – Sheep
 Snail – Plant - Human
Class Cestoidea
- all are parasitic with no digestive tract; have great reproductive potential;
tapeworms and about 35,000 species
Adaptations for the Parasitic Lifestyle
 Tapeworms lack a mouth and a digestive tract in all of their life-cycle stages;
absorb nutrients directly across the body wall
 Most adult tapeworms consist of a long series of repeating units called
proglottids; each proglottid contains one or two complete sets of reproductive
structures

Subclass Cestodaria
o Body is not subdivided into proglottids; larva in crustaceans; adult in
fishes; about 15 species ex. Amphilina, Gyrocotyl
Subclass Eucestoda
o True tapeworms; contains both male and female reproductive systems in
each proglottids; about 1,000 species ex. Protocephalus, Taenia,
Echinococcus, Diphyllobothrium

Reproduction of Tapeworms
- Monoecious
- Made to breed
- Multiple testes
- Single pair of ovaries
- Usually breed with other mature proglottids on the same organism or a
mature proglottid on a different tapeworm in the same organism
- Cross-breeding leads to “Hybrid Vigor”
Tapeworm parasites of humans
  Taeniarhychus saginatus, the beef tapeworm
- 25m in length
- About 80,000 eggs per proglottid
 Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm
- Usually 2-3m, can be up to 10m

II. PHYLUM NEMERTEA

- Proboscis worms are named for their prey-capturing apparatus.
Characteritics
1. Triplolastic, acoelomate, bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented, ciliated
2. Epidermis contains mucous glands
3. Closed circulatory system
4. Body muscles are organized into tree layers
5. Complete digestive tract with anus

 The most distinctive feature of nemerteans is a long proboscis held in a sheath

called a rhyncocoel
 The proboscis may be tipped with a barb called a stylet
 Also, nemerteans are diecious
 They have a mouth for ingesting food and an anus for eliminating wastes
- This allows for the mechanical breakdown of food, digestion,
absorption, and feces formation to proceed sequentially in an anterior
to posterior direction
 Also, they have a circulatory system consisting of two lateral blood vessels
- No heart present

III. PHYLUM GASTROTRICHA

- stomach hair as it uses cilia.
Characteristics
1. Usually lattened dorsally, triploblastic, acoelomate, bilateral symmetry
2. Unsegmented worms
3. Incomplete gut is usually present
4. Includes members that inhabit the space between bottom sediments
5. 500 free-living freshwater and marine species
6. From 0.1 to 4mm in length
7. Contains a single class divided into 2 orders
Reproduction
 Most marine species reproduce sexually and are hermaphroditic
 Most freshwater species reproduce asexually by parthenogenesis; the females
can lay 2 kinds of unfertilized eggs
 Under favorable conditions they lay thin-shelled eggs that hatch into females
Under non-favorable conditions they lay thick shelled eggs that hatch into females