{{Short description|Obsolete taxonomic group}} The '''Aschelminthes''' ('''Aeschelminthes''' or '''Nemathelminthes'''), closely associated with the Platyhelminthes, are an obsolete phylum of pseudocoelomate and other similar animals that are no longer considered closely related and have been promoted to phyla in their own right. The term '''Aschelminth''' is now generally only used as an informal name for any member of the approximately ten different invertebrate phyla formerly included within Aschelminthes.
It is a polyphyletic group.<ref name="pmid8524046">{{cite journal |vauthors=Winnepenninckx B, Backeljau T, Mackey LY |title=18S rRNA data indicate that Aschelminthes are polyphyletic in origin and consist of at least three distinct clades |journal=Mol. Biol. Evol. |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=1132–7 |date=November 1995 |pmid=8524046 |doi= 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040287|display-authors=etal|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Subdivisions== Although invertebrate experts<ref>{{cite web |title=Introduction to the "Aschelminth" Phyla |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aschelminthes/aschelminthes.html |website=University of California Museum of Paleontology}}</ref> do not necessarily agree on these categorizations, groups that are generally incorporated into Aschelminthes include:
* Gastrotricha
Gnathifera * Acanthocephala * Gnathostomulida * Rotifera
Nematoidea * Nematoda * Nematomorpha
Scalidophora * Kinorhyncha * Loricifera * Priapulida
In addition, Cycliophora, Entoprocta<ref>{{cite journal |title=The New View of Animal Phylogeny |author=Kenneth M. Halanych |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |year=2004 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=229–256 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.35.112202.130124 }}</ref> and Tardigrada are sometimes included.<ref>{{Cite book |last=M. |first=Kinchin, Ian |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/702705558 |title=The biology of tardigrades |date=1994 |publisher=Portland Press |isbn=1-85578-043-7 |pages=10 |oclc=702705558}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090820060840/http://www.ltcconline.net/kloss/bio212/ch__11.htm Aschelminth information page] <small>(archived from [http://www.ltcconline.net/kloss/bio212/ch__11.htm the original] on 2009-08-20)</small>
{{Animalia}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Obsolete animal taxa