Article
Article
Turbellaria
Article By:
Tyler, Seth Department of Zoology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine.
Last reviewed:January 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.715800
A nontaxonomic grouping of small worms with a ciliated epidermis, which allows the worms to swim through water or creep over substrates. As worms, turbellarians typically have an elongate, highly flexible, and soft body, with a brain and sensory organs, such as eyes and sensory tufts, in the head, which is not distinctly set off from the rest of the body. Turbellarians have a sac-shaped gut, with the mouth being the only opening; thus, undigested remains of the food that the worms swallow must be ejected back through the mouth rather than through an anus.
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