Similarities Between Annelida And Protostomia

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Protostomia refers to a group of invertebrates animals with the blastopore developed into the mouth during embryonic development. The major branches of the protostomia are the lophotrochozoa and the ecdysozoa. Lophotrochozoa includes the phyla Platyhelminthes, Annelida and Mollusca and ecdysozoa includes the phyla Nematoda and Arthropoda. Vermiform phyla are phyla that consist of worm-like animals for example, the phyla Platyhelminthes, Annelida and Nematoda. The phylum Nematoda is the only vermiform phylum in the ecdysozoa branch of protostomia hence in the following paragraphs, we will be looking into the similarities and differences between the phylum Nematoda and phylum Annelida which is a vermiform phylum from lophotrochozoa. Annelida …show more content…

In terms of their body structure, though both Nematoda and Annelids have cylindrical body, the cylindrical body of Nematoda is unsegmented with tapered ends while those of Annelids are segmented to aid in locomotion and do not have tapered ends. In addition, despite both phyla being triploblastic, Annelids are coelomates with the body cavity lined within the mesoderm while Nematoda are pseudocoelomates with the body cavity that lined between the mesoderm and endoderm instead. Furthermore, Annelids and Nematoda possess different muscle layers whereby Nematoda has body wall with only the longitudinal muscle while Annelids have body walls with both the circular and the longitudinal …show more content…

Most Nematoda are dioecious in which the male and female reproductive organs are in different individuals while most Annelids are hermaphrodite in which the male and female reproductive organs are both within the same individual with the exception of the class polychaete of Annelids which is dioecious (Jorgensen, 2015). As a result, Nematoda can only reproduce sexually while Annelids can reproduce both asexually and sexually with the exception that leeches can only reproduce sexually. For sexual reproduction in Nematoda, the male has a specialized spine that aids in the opening of the female’s reproductive tract where it then injects its sperms into (Myers, 2001). On the other hand, Annelids asexually reproduce by the method of fission. In conclusion, though the phylum Annelida and phylum Nematoda share some similarities in being bilateral symmetrical, have organ system level of body organisation and are triploblastic, they have evolved to form different body structures to serve different functions. In addition, despite similarities in some of the body systems, others have developed to differ from one another in order to adapt and survive in their different

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