Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Aug 2, 2026

Polyplacotomia

Polyplacotomia is a class of placozoans, to this date only comprising Polyplacotoma mediterranea. It was established in 2022. Their morphology is strikingly different from other placozoans in Uniplacotomia, exhibiting a highly ramified, branching structure with multiple amoeboid projections. It differs from Uniplacotomia by 76 uniquely present and 600 absent genes.

Last revised
Aug 2, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
143 w
Citations
4
Source
Polyplacotomia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Placozoa
Class: Polyplacotomia
Tessler et al., 2022
Type species
Polyplacotoma mediterranea
Osigus et al., 2019
Orders1

Polyplacotomia is a class of placozoans, to this date only comprising Polyplacotoma mediterranea. It was established in 2022.1 Their morphology is strikingly different from other placozoans in Uniplacotomia, exhibiting a highly ramified, branching structure with multiple amoeboid projections. It differs from Uniplacotomia by 76 uniquely present and 600 absent genes.12

References

References

  1. Tessler, Michael; Neumann, Johannes S.; Kamm, Kai; Osigus, Hans-Jürgen; Eshel, Gil; Narechania, Apurva; Burns, John A.; DeSalle, Rob; Schierwater, Bernd (2022-12-08). "Phylogenomics and the first higher taxonomy of Placozoa, an ancient and enigmatic animal phylum". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10. doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.1016357.
  2. Tessler, Michael; Galen, Spencer; DeSalle, Rob; Schierwater, Bernd (2022-12-08). "Let's end taxonomic blank slates with molecular morphology". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10. doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.1016412.