Phylum: Platyhelminthes (Platyhelminths):

 Term Platyhelminthes was proposed by Gegenbaur in 1859, means flatworms which refers to their
characteristic contour of flattened body.

 The term is derived from two Greek words – Platy = flat; helminthes = worms.

 The animals show low organization as they are without anus, skeletal, respiratory and circulatory systems.

 The body is filled with mesenchymal cells, which are mesodermal in origin.

General Characters
1. Bilateral symmetrical body, dorso-ventrally flattened.

2. Body generally shows anterior cephalization that is differentiation of anterior region into head.

3. Body generally worm like either long flat ribbon-shaped or leaf-like. The outline of body bizarre shape in
trematodes and segmented tape like body in cestodes.

4. Most of the flat worms are of small to moderate dimensions to size varies from microscopic to the extreme
elongation as much 10 to 15 meters.

5. General colour creamy white but on account of the presence of food the body may acquire colour. Some of
the free-living flat worms are brilliantly coloured, often brown, black, gray etc.

6. Body with various types of attachment organs in the form of adhesive secretions, suckers, and hooks.

7. Body consists of three embryonic layers viz., ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm.

8. In parasitic forms, the body is covered with a thick cuticle/tegument but free-living turbellarians are clothed
with cellular or syncytial epidermis.

9. The exo- and endoskeleton are completely absent; therefore, the body is generally soft with hooks, spines,
spicules and thorns.

10. Body space is filled with a mesenchyma that is parenchymatous tissue; therefore, flat worms are
acoelomate that is without coelom.

11. The digestive system is generally absent in tapeworms and acoela. But in other consists of mouth, pharynx
and variously modified intestine.

12. Respiratory and circulatory systems are absent but some of the trematodes have system of tubes the so
called lymphatic system of uncertain function.

13. The nervous system is of primitive type with missing of nervous tissue as brain in anterior-most region with
several longitudinal ganglionated cords. Numerous transverse connections occur between the longitudinal
cords. So the nervous system is generally ladder like.

14. Parasitic forms are without sensory organs but free-living forms are provided with sensory organs in the
form of chemo- and tangoreceptors, ciliated pits, statocysts and ocelli or eyes.

15. Excretory system well developed with proto-nephridial tubules having flame bulbs or cells. But acoela are
without protonephridia.
16. Hermaphrodite, rarely with separate sex. The eggs are generally devoid of yolk but with yolk cells. Varieties
of copulatory organs are present. Cross-fertilization and self-fertilization both are common.

17. Development direct i.e., without larval stage or indirect with larval stages.

18. Life cycles complicated with succession of larval stages involving one to three intermediate hosts.

19. Asexual reproduction common among fresh water forms.

20. Parthenogenesis and Polyembryony common among trematodes and cestodes.

21. Endogenous and exogenous budding common in tapeworms.

Phylum Platyhelminthes is divided into three Classes

The classification followed here is from Hymen (1951)

 Turbellaria
 Trematoda
 Cestoidea (Cestoda)

CLASS TREMATODA:
 The trematodes are so named on account of their conspicuous suckers (G. trematos, pierced with
holes).
 The species parasitising man belong to the digenetic trematodes.

General Characters of Trematodes

1. Body is usually unsegmented, dorso-ventrally flattened and leaflike worms, called flukes.

2. Body is covered by thick tegument/cuticle and no cilia.

3. Epidermis absent. Rhabdites are absent.

4. They are ecto- or endoparasites

5. Size varies from 1 mm to several centimeters in length.

6. The organs of attachment are two strong muscular cup-shaped depressions, called suckers. The one,
surrounding the mouth is called the oral sucker and the other, on the ventral surface of the body, is called the
ventral sucker (acetabulum). Sometimes hooks are present.

7. Sexes are not separate, i.e., each individual worm is a hermaphrodite (monoecious) except the Schistosomes
which are unisexual.

8. Body cavity is absent.

9. The alimentary canal is present but incomplete. The anus is absent. The oesophagus bifurcates in front of
the ventral sucker into a pair of blind intestinal caeca or crura which may be simple (as in Clonorchis sinensis)
or branched (as in Fasciola hepatica) or may reunite to form a single caecum (as in Schistosomes).
10. In some cases there is a system of parenchymal vessels showing the presence of primitive circulatory
system.

11. Excretory and nervous systems are present. Excretory system consists of "flame cells" and collecting
tubules which open posteriorly, into the excretory pore. The pattern of flame cells provides the basis for
species identification.

12. There are three pairs of longitudinal nerve cords.

13. Sense organs are poorly developed.

14. Reproductive system is highly developed and complete in each individual.

15. The genital organs lie between the two branches of the intestine.

16. Single ovary and many testes.

17. Cross fertilization takes place.

18. The worms are oviparous, since eggs are liberated.

19. Eggs are all operculated (except those of Schistosomes) and, can develop only in water. In a majority of
cases they are immature when oviposited. Trematode eggs do not float in saturated solution of common salt.

20. Development direct or indirect.

21. Life-cycle simple or complicated with more than-one hosts.

22. There are about 6000 species in class Trematoda.

CESTOIDEA: THE TAPEWORMS

 Members of this class possess all the characteristics of the phylum Platyhelminthes.
 In addition, they lack a mouth and digestive tract, and like the other parasitic platyhelminths, their body
surfaces are covered with a tegumental layer.

 Many of the Cestoidea are true tapeworms of the subclass Eucestoda, whereas a smaller, less-known group
belongs to the subclass Cestodaria

General Characters of Cestodes:

1. The majority of cestodes are long, segmented and tape-like, hence called tapeworms. They are flattened
dorsoventrally.

2. Sizes vary from a few millimetres to several metres.

3. Adult worms are found in the intestinal canal of man and animal.

4. “Head” is provided with suckers (slit-like or cup-like) and sometimes with hooks, which serve as organs of
attachment.

5. There are three regions in an adult worm: (i) a “head” (scolex), (ii) a “neck” and (iii) a strobila (a body or
trunk) consisting of a series of segments (proglottides).

6. Sexes are not separate, i.e., each individual worm is a hermaphrodite.

7. Body cavity is absent.

8. Alimentary canal is entirely absent.

9. Excretory and nervous systems are present.

10. Reproductive system is highly developed and complete in each segment. According to the maturity of
reproductive organs three types of segments of the strobila can be recognised from the front backwards:

 Immature: Male and female organs not differentiated.

 Mature: Male and female organs have become differentiated (male organs appear first).
 Gravid: Uteri are filled with eggs (other organs atrophied or disappeared).

Nemata (or Nematoda): The Roundworms

The relationship of the nematodes or roundworms to other organisms remains uncertain even after 100 years
of debate.
Some consider these organisms to constitute an independent phylum, the Nemata (or Nematoda),

whereas others include these worms, along with the Rotifera, Gastrotricha, Kinorhyncha, and Nematomorpha,
in the phylum Aschelminthes.

In another scheme, the nematodes, along with the Nematomorpha, are considered classes of phylum
Nemathelminthes.

The most popular view at this time appears to consider the nematodes as representing a distinct phylum and
is being designated the Nemata. Phylum: Nemathelminthes (Aschelminthes) Class: Nematoda

General Characters:

1. The nematodes are unsegmented worms without any appendage. They are elongated and cylindrical or
filiform in appearance; both ends are often pointed.

2. The sizes show a great variation, the smallest (T. spiralis and S. Stercoralis) measures less than 5 mm and the
largest (D. medinensis) measures up to 1 metre.

3. The body is covered with a tough cuticle.

4. The worm possesses a body cavity in which the various organs, such as the digestive and genital systems,
float. Excretory and nervous systems are rudimentary.

5. The alimentary canal is complete, consisting of an oral aperture, mouth cavity, oesophagus, intestine and a
subterminal anus. The mouth cavity, when present, may have teeth or cutting plates; in other cases where the
mouth cavity is absent, the oral aperture is directly continuous with the oesophagus.

6. The nematodes of man are all diecious helminths, i.e., the sexes are separate. The male is generally smaller
than the female and its posterior end is curved or coiled ventrally.