Worms 2BIbDF09 10/11

What is a worm ?

Worms are invertebrate animals. They are multicellular with true tissues and bilateral symmetry and they have a soft and flexible body. [They are protostomes.] They probably appeared at the beginning of cambrian era and they are an important step of animals' evolution. There are several Phyla and each one live in a specific environment. Some of them are parasitic organisms that can live in a body or just live in soil or in the sea.

How are they classified ?

Worms are separate in three classes, depending on their body shape

- Flatworms or Platyhelminthes
That contain the :

• Tapeworms

- Roundworms or Nematoda
That contain the :

• Hookworms
• Pinworms

- Segmented Worms or Annelida

That contain the:

• Earthworms
• Polychates

• Leeches

What are the characteristics of each one?

flatworms or Platyhelminthes

General physical characteristics: Platyhelmintes are flat and they can measure about 1mm to 20m in length, their are the simplest animals with billateral symmetry. They have no distinctive head or apppendix but they have a single opening that serve them to eat and to defecate.The are billaterians but they neither have body cavities, nor respiratory or circulatory organs.

Where are they in the three of life?

• Domain : Eukaria
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Platyhelminthes
• Class: Turbellaria, Cestoda, Trematoda, Monogenea

The Phylum of Platyleminthes includes four sub-groups:

• the Turbellaria, they are mostly non-parasitic organisms, they live in water or in moist environnements. They can mesure from 1mm to 60cm and they are mostly all predators or scavengers and hermaphrodites.
• The Cestoda, or tapeworms are parasitic organisms. They mostly live in vertebrates intestines. Their head(scolex) is constitued by a sucker and a hook that allow them to attach to the intestinal wall. The tapeworm grow and feed itself absorbing and digesting the nutrients that the

Roundworms or Nematoda

General physical characteristics : Roundworms or Nematoda are round, slender, and they measure typically less than 2.5 mm long; The smallest one is microscopic, but free-living species can reach as much as 5 mm and some parasitic species ca be larger. Their body have ridges, rings, warts, bristles or other distinctive structures and it is bilaterally symmetrical. They have body cavitie, which is surrounded by the muscle layer and the gut furrows the centre of the cavity. The pharynx is connected directly to the intestine that forms the main length of the gut and the gut. The last portion of the intestine has cuticle, which form a rectum, that expels waste through the anus. Their head is relatively distinctive and contrary to the body, the head is radially symmetrical with sensory bristles and, in many cases, solid head-shields outwards around the mouth. Finally the mouth has three or six lips, which often have a series of teeth on their inner edge.

Segmented Worms or Annelida

- Earthworms- Polychaetes- Leeches

What are their part in the body features' evolution?

very disappointing... we started this wiki on Nov29... Be careful... you should now produce a big amount of work in order to have enough information on your page and for you oral presentationPierre.brawand 16 janvier 2011 à 16:02 (CET)

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