[Taxacom] Animalia or Metazoa?

[Geoff Read]

Let's not be too ultra picky about a diagram attempting the impossible -
the "animal kingdom" explained in a glance in about half an A4 page.

Adjacent text on p.18 of the below-mentioned book clarifies:
" ... sponges, nettle animals, comb jellies, and placozoans — are so
distinct that each probably represents a branch unrelated to the others,
but they are sometimes collectively referred to as Radiata, and there are
some shared features that hint at common ancestry."

And FWIW I've seen some very cylindrical sponges!


>>> On 24/07/2009 at 3:03 p.m., Stephen Thorpe <s.thorpe at auckland.ac.nz>
wrote:
> Yes, Curtis, I'm also a tad confused about how sponges got into
> Metazoa? Though I don't think they are paraphyletic. Maybe I just
> haven't soaked up the recent literature on sponges! I'm also somewhat
> surprised to see sponges turn up as part of a putative clade Radiata in:
>
> Gordon, D.P. (ed.) 2009: New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume
> 1. Kingdom Animalia. Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia.
> Canterbury University Press, Christchurch, New Zealand.