Syndermata is a clade of animals that, in some systems, is considered synonymous with Rotifera. Older systems separate Rotifera and

Acanthocephala Acanthocephala ( Greek , ' 'thorn' + , ' 'head') is a group of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses t ...

as different phyla, and group them both under Syndermata., p. 788ff. – see particularly p. 804 This clade is placed in the Platyzoa.

Phylogeny

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analysis of the 18S

ribosomal Ribosomes () are macromolecular machines, found within all cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (messenger RNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA molecules to fo ...

gene has revealed that the

, formerly considered a separate

phylum In biology, a phylum (; : phyla) is a level of classification, or taxonomic rank, that is below Kingdom (biology), kingdom and above Class (biology), class. Traditionally, in botany the term division (taxonomy), division has been used instead ...

are most closely related to the

rotifer The rotifers (, from Latin 'wheel' and 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera ) of microscopic and near-microscopic Coelom#Pseudocoelomates, pseudocoelomate animals. They were first describ ...

s. They are possibly closer to the two rotifer classes

Bdelloidea Bdelloidea (from Greek language, Greek βδέλλα, ''bdella'' 'leech') is a Class (biology), class of rotifers found in freshwater habitats all over the world. There are over 450 described species of bdelloid rotifers (or 'bdelloids'), disti ...

and

Monogononta Monogononta is a class of rotifers, found mostly in freshwater but also in soil and marine environments. They include both free-swimming and Sessility (zoology), sessile forms. Monogononts generally have a reduced Rotifer#Anatomy, corona, and e ...

than to the other class, Seisonidea, producing the names and relationships shown in the

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

below. A study of the gene order in the mitochondria suggests that Seisonidea and Acanthocephala are sister clades and that the Bdelloidea are the sister clade to this group. This has since been corroborated by the discovery of a fossil

stem-group In phylogenetics, the crown group or crown assemblage is a collection of species composed of the living representatives of the collection, the most recent common ancestor of the collection, and all descendants of the most recent common ancestor. ...

acanthocephalan.

References

Gnathifera (clade) Protostome unranked clades {{Protostome-stub