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Rotifera

Rotifers

taxon links [down<--]Bilateria [up-->]Acanthocephala Interpreting the tree
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

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For a recent discussion of alternative hypotheses of relationships see Mark Welch 2001.
Containing group: Bilateria

References

Clément, P. and E. Wurdak. 1991. Rotifera. Pages 219–297 in: Microscopic Anatomy of Invertebrates, Vol. 4. F. W. Harrison and E. E. Ruppert, eds. Wiley-Liss, New York.

Garey, J. R., T. J. Near, M. R. Nonnemacher, and S. A. Nadler. 1996. Molecular evidence for Acanthocephala as a subtaxon of Rotifera. J. Mol. Evol. 43:287-292.

Garey, J. R., A. Schmidt-Rhaesa, T. J. Near, and S. A. Nadler. 1998. The evolutionary relationships of rotifers and acanthocephalans. Hydrobiologia 387:83-91.

Herlyn, H., O. Piskurek, J. Schmitz, U. Ehlers, and H. Zischler. 2003. The syndermatan phylogeny and the evolution of acanthocephalan endoparasitism as inferred from 18S rDNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 26:155–164.

Mark Welch, D. B. 2000. Evidence from a protein-coding gene that acanthocephalans are rotifers. Invertebrate Biology 119:17-26.

Mark Welch, D. B. 2001. Early contributions of molecular phylogenetics to understanding the evolution of Rotifera. Hydrobiologia 446/447:315-322.

Melone, G., C. Ricci, H. Segers, and R. L. Wallace. 1998. Phylogenetic relationships of phylum Rotifera with emphasis on the families of Bdelloidea. Hydrobiologia 387/388:101-107.

Miquelis, A., J.-F. Martin, E. W. Carson, G. Brun, and André Gilles. 2000. Performance of 18S rDNA helix E23 for phylogenetic relationships within and between the Rotifera–Acanthocephala clades. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sciences de la vie/Life Sciences 323:925–941.

Nogrady, T., R. L. Wallace, and T. W. Snell. 1993. Rotifera, Vol. 1: Biology, Ecology and Systematics. Guides to the Identification of the Microinvertebrates of the Continental Waters of the World. H. J. Dumont, ed. SPB Academic Publishers bv., The Hague.

Segers, H. 2002. The nomenclature of the Rotifera: annotated checklist of valid family- and genus-group names. Journal of Natural History 36:631-640.

Sørensen, M. V. 2002. On the evolution and morphology of the rotiferan trophi, with a cladistic analysis of Rotifera. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 40:129-154.

Wallace, R.L. and T. W. Snell. 1991. Rotifera. In: Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates. J.H. Thorpe & A.P. Covich, eds. Academic Press, New York.

Zrzavy, J. 2001. The interrelationships of metazoan parasites: a review of phylum- and higher-level hypotheses from recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. Folia Parasitologica 48:81-103.

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Citing this page:

Maddison, David R. 2002. Rotifera. Rotifers. Version 01 January 2002 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Rotifera/2480/2002.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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