220px haeckel platodes 1

630mya Flatworms

Flatworms, also called platyhelminths, are any of the phylum Platyhelminthes, a group of soft-bodied, usually much flattened invertebrates. A number of flatworm species are free-living, but about 80 percent of all flatworms are parasitic—i.e., living on or in another organism and securing nourishment from it.

Platyhelminthes are bilaterally symmetrical animals: their left and right sides are mirror images of each other; this also implies they have distinct top and bottom surfaces and distinct head and tail ends. Like other bilaterians, they have three main cell layers (endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm), while the radially symmetrical cnidarians and ctenophores (comb jellies) have only two cell layers. Beyond that, they are "defined more by what they do not have than by any particular series of specializations." Unlike other bilaterians, Platyhelminthes have no internal body cavity, so are described as acoelomates. They also lack specialized circulatory and respiratory organs, both of these facts are defining features when classifying a flatworm's anatomy. Their bodies are soft and unsegmented.  Although they have a gut, they lack an anus.

He we have the beginning of bilateral symmetry as well as head and tail ends indicating a purposeful movement probably towards a food source and away from danger.  Many are invasive species and parasites and are not considered under any threat.

Ancestor's Trail
  1. Ancestor's Trail Hike
  2. Why Is Life On Earth Carbon-Based?
  3. Metazoans
  4. 900MYA we had a common ancestry with Choanoflagellates (non-animal eucaryotes)
  5. 800mya we had a common ancestry with Sponges
  6. 780mya we had a common ancestry with Placozoans
  7. 730mya Ctenophores
  8. 680mya Cnidarians
  9. 630mya Flatworms
  10. 590mya Protosomes
  11. 570mya Ambulacrarians
  12. 565mya Tunicates
  13. 560mya Cephalocordates
  14. 530mya Agnatha
  15. 460mya Chondrichthyes
  16. 440-450mya FIRST GREAT EXTINCTION
  17. 440mya Actinopterygii
  18. 417mya Dipnoi
  19. 360-375mya SECOND GREAT EXTINCTION
  20. 340mya Amphibians
  21. 310mya Sauropsids (lizard-faced non-mammalian chordates)
  22. 251mya THIRD GREAT EXTINCTION
  23. 205mya FOURTH GREAT EXTINCTION
  24. 180mya Monotremes
  25. 140mya Marsupials
  26. 105mya Afrotheres
  27. 95mya Xenarthrans
  28. 85mya Laurasiatheres
  29. 75mya Glires (Rodents and Lagomorphs)
  30. 70mya Non-primate Eurachonta (Cologus and Tree shrews)
  31. 65mya FIFTH GREAT EXTINCTION
  32. 63mya Prosimians
  33. 58mya Tarsiers
  34. 40mya Platyrrhini
  35. 25mya Catarrhini
  36. 18mya Lesser Apes
  37. 14mya Orangutans
  38. 7mya Gorillas
  39. 6mya Chimpanzees and Bonobos
  40. Human Evolution on the Ancestor's Trail
  41. 7 BILLION HUMANS