Planulozoa is a clade which includes the Placozoa, Cnidaria (corals and jellyfish) and the Bilateria (all the more complex animals including worms, insects and vertebrates).[2][3] The designation Planulozoa may be considered a synonym to Parahoxozoa. Within Planulozoa, the Placozoa may be a sister of Cnidaria to the exclusion of Bilateria.[4][5][6][7] The clade excludes basal animals such as the Ctenophora (comb jellies),[8][9][3] and Porifera (sponges).[10][11][12] Although this clade was sometimes used to specify a clade of Cnidaria and Bilateria to the exclusion of Placozoa (against the original intention of its proposal), this is no longer favoured due to recent data indicating a sister group relationship between Cnidaria and Placozoa.[13]
Planulozoa Temporal range:
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Diversity of planulozoans | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | |
Subkingdom: | |
(unranked): | |
(unranked): | Planulozoa Wallberg et al., 2004
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Phyla | |
Bilateria/Triploblasts (unranked)?
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The phylogenetic tree indicates approximately how many millions of years ago (mya) the lineages split. Here, Planulozoa is shown sans Placozoa.[14][15][16]
Planulozoa are associated with the emergence of the Zoc and ZF-NC gene domains.[17]
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