Neodermata
| Neodermata | |
|---|---|
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| |
| Fasciola hepatica, a neodermatan | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Subphylum: | Rhabditophora |
| Superclass: | Neodermata Ehlers, 1985 |
| Orders | |
Neodermata is a clade of
.Description
All neodermatans are
cilia.[1]
Phylogeny
Currently, the monophyly of Neodermata is undisputed, being supported by both morphological and molecular data.[2] It is clear that they evolved from free-living flatworms (turbellarians), but their sister-group was for a long time a matter of debate. The first attempts to reconstruct the phylogeny of flatworms, based on morphological evidence, considered Rhabdocoela to be the sister-group of Neodermata, but this was based on weak morphological similarities and was not supported by molecular studies.[3]
The most recent evidences put the order
Bothrioplanida as the sister-group of Neodermata, uniting them in a clade called Bothrioneodermata.[3]