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BIOL 1065 – LECTURE OUTLINE tissues of the body. Indigestible particles are
PHYLUM PLATYHELMINTHES eliminated through the mouth as in the hydra.
A new system not found in the animals studied so
far is the excretory system. This lies in the
Characteristics of Phylum Platyhelminthes:
parenchyma and consists of a network of fine tubes,
1. Body is usually dorso-ventrally flattened.
which run the length of the animal on each side and
2. The gut (when present) has a single
open to the surface by several minute pores. Side
opening (the mouth) and tends to be
branches from these tubes terminate in the
complex, ramifying throughout the body
parenchyma in tiny bulbs termed flame cells. Each
3. They are usually hermaphroditic.
flame cell has a hollow centre in which beats a tuft of
4. Reproductive organs are very complex.
cilia simulating a flickering flame. The hollow centre
5. Members may be free-living,
is continuous with the cavity of the tubules of the
ectoparasitic or endoparasitic.
system, and the ciliary beat causes a current of fluid
to move along the tubules to the pores for excretion of
The Platyhelminthes (flatworms) may be
waste.
regarded as being at a simple level of organization.
The reproductive system is highly complex for
Apart from the development of a specialized head
sexual reproduction. In planarias, ovaries and testes
region (cephalization) and bilateral symmetry, the
arise in the parenchyma; but there is a system of
Platyhelminthes show two major differences from the
tubules and chambers in which fertilization occurs.
radiate phyla. Firstly, their tissues are aggregated
When sexually mature, each individual has a pair of
into organs with specialized functions, several organs
ovaries close behind the eyes. From each ovary, a
combining as an organ system to perform a single life
tube, the oviduct, runs backward near the ventral
activity such as feeding or reproduction. Secondly,
surface. There are numerous testes along the sides
they lack the mesogloea characteristic of the
of the body. From each testis runs a delicate tube
coelenterates and have three well developed cellular
and all these tubes on one side unite to form a
layers: the ectoderm, parenchyma and endoderm.
prominent sperm duct. The sperm ducts eventually
The parenchyma fills the space between the body
lead to a penis for the transfer of sperms to another
wall and the internal organs. The Platyhelminthes are
individual.
the simplest animals built on the organ system level of
In flatworms we see the first appearance of a
organization. In the digestive system of the planaria
central nervous system. In the palanria there is in the
the mouth is not on the head but near the middle of
head a concentration of nervous tissue into a bi-lobed
the ventral surface. It opens into a cavity, which
mass called the cerebral ganglia. From the brain two
contains a tubular muscular organ, the pharynx,
longitudinal nerve cords run backward through the
attached only at its anterior end. By means of
parenchyma near the ventral surface. The two
muscles it may be protruded during feeding.
longitudinal cords are connected to each other by
Planarias feed on small live animals or on the dead
cross-strands and give the appearance of a ladder.
bodies of larger animals. From the anterior end of the
The organism also has sensory lobes, pointed
pharynx the rest of the digestive system extends
projections on each side of the head. The two eyes
throughout the interior of the animal. It consists of
are sense organs specialized for light reception – they
one anterior branch, which runs forward, and two
can only tell differences in light intensity however.
posterior branches, which pass backward, one on
PHYLUM CLASS
either side of the pharynx. There is almost no
digestion of food in the gastrovascular cavity of the
Turbellaria (Dugesia)
planaria, for food is broken up into small particles
before it enters the cavity, and is thus ready to be
Platyhelminthes Trematoda (Fasciola)
taken up by the epithelial cells in amoeboid fashion
and formed into food vacuoles. The digested food is
Cestoda (Taenia)
absorbed and passes by diffusion throughout the
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Life cycle of Taenia spp.

Life cycle of Fasciola hepatica