PHYLUM PLATYHELMINTHES

(The Flatworms)
Introduction
Platyhelminthes (the flatworms) are dorsoventrally flattened, triploblastic, bilaterally symmetrical
acoelomates with blind sac body plan and organ grade of body organization. They are referred to
as primitive eumatazoans without definite anus, circulatory, skeletal or respiratory systems.
Instead, they possess protonephridial excretory system. They are grouped as acoelomate (i.e.
animals without a coelom) because their body wall and the digestive tract is filled with muscle
fibers and loose tissue called parenchyma (mesenchyma). They are triploblastic acoelomate with
three distinct germ layers, viz; ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. There about 13000 species of
Platyhelminthes with the following primitive characters:-

i. Absence of circulatory system.

ii. They use cilia for locomotion.
iii. Presence of protonephridia for excretion.

Platyhelminthes is ancient, but practically with no evolutionary history because they have very
soft body tissues, hence fossils are non-existent. They probably evolved 550 million years ago.

The platyhelminthes are economically important, with a class that is free-living (Turbellaria), some
commensals and most are parasitic (tapeworms and flukes) affecting both humans and livestock.
Platyhelminthes are advanced over other radiate animals in several ways, viz;

(i.) Their bilateral symmetry adapts them for direct movement.

(ii.) Their tissues are well defined and organized into complex organs.
(iii.) The nervous system is organized and concentrated in the anterior end of the animal
(cephalization).
(iv.) They do not depend on simple diffusion for elimination of nitrogenous wastes, but
have an excretory system based on structures called flame cells.
(v.) They possess a complex digestive tract with both a mouth and anus.

Habitat
They live nearly everywhere; land, fresh and marine waters as well as inside other animals/man.
Most free-living species are marine with only a small number inhabiting freshwater and very few
are terrestrial. The parasitic species normally moves between different habitats and host during
their developmental cycle.

Classes

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Platyhelminthes are a successful phylum with four distinct classes, viz; Turbellaria, Trematoda,
Monogenea and Cestodea
Figure 1: Classification of Platyhelminthes. Source: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Classification with Characters:

Class 1. Turbellaria (Gk. turbella = a little string); Approx. 3000 species, e.g. Planaria

Features:

1. Mostly free-living, primarily aquatic and the great majority are marine and mostly benthic; a few
are terrestrial, some are commensals for parasites.
2. Generally small, flattened, bilaterally symmetrical with a low level of cephalization.
3. Unsegmented body.
4. Cilia scattered on epidermis.
5. Locomotion by cilia with muscular undulations.
6. Body surface of many species bears small, rod-like, hyaline rhabdites and related rhabdoids—
unique in turbellarians and the function is uncertain.
7. Presence of epidermal gland cells (Duo-gland, frontal gland, rhabdite gland) help for adhesion,
mucus secretion and other secretory functions.
8. Pigmented and some are brilliantly coloured.
9. Simple sac-like intestine with a simple or bulbous pharynx in small-size species, and in large-size
species the intestine is branched with a tubular pharynx.
10. Body surface acting as a permanent respiratory surface.
11. Suckers absent.

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12. Nervous system is a diffuse nerve-net with a cerebral ganglion, a primitive type found in some
forms and a distinct brain with 1-3 pairs of longitudinal nerve cords found in advanced forms.
13. Pigment cup ocelli and statocysts are the sensory organs.
14. Excretory system is protonephridia which includes flame cells in most cases.
15. Mostly hermaphrodite.
16. Asexual reproduction in many species (e.g., freshwater and terrestrial turbellarians).
17. Spiral cleavage in many forms (e.g., in some acoels and polyclads),
18. Generally development direct.
19. A free-swimming larval stage Muller’s larva is found in some forms (e.g., a few entolecithal
polyclads).

Figure 2: Body plan of Planaria Source: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

CLASS: TREMATODA
The class Trematoda has about 6,000 species and contains the sub-class Digenea and the
Aspidogastrea (small group of absolutely no economic importance to man). Trematodes are
parasitic flatworms, usually leaf-like in appearance, with holdfast suckers for adhering to their
hosts. The evolution of the trematodes class are paraphyletic (i.e. it represents only some
descendants of a common ancestor). Aspidogastrea are mostly found on cartilaginous fishes as

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host. Aspidogastrea and Digenea particularly have noticeable synapomorphy manifested by the
presence of a posterior sucker – a large, ventral disk in the subclass Aspidogastrea that the animal
use for adhesion. In addition, both subclasses have life cycles that involve mollusks and
vertebrates. The adhesive disk is covered with many small suckers known as alveoli. Trematodes
generally have one or two large, sometimes branched, testes, a comparatively small ovary, an often
long and looping uterus, and a single common genital pore. They typically have a bifurcated
intestine and blind caeca that exit the body through an anus or via an excretory vesicle. The
integument lacks a cuticle. Trematodes are found around the world. The presence of their host
species is often the limiting factor in their geographic distribution. Members of the subclass
Digenea are endoparasites with indirect life cycles, which means that they infect different hosts
during the various stages of their life cycles. Digenetic trematodes typically have two larval stages
and at least two hosts. The life cycles of members of the subclass Aspidogastrea, which sometimes
take a shorter path with only one host and no asexually reproducing larvae, are described as direct.
The life cycle is a bit simpler with usually only one host. After birth, the ectoparasitic species
generally latch immediately onto the outside of a host organism, usually the skin or gills of bivalves
or fishes. Trematodes are obligate parasites, which means that they require nourishment from a
host organism. Adult digenetic trematodes die soon after removal from the host, while members
of Aspidogastrea may survive independently for a month or more. Digenetic trematode first-stage
larvae, or miracidia, do not feed. For this reason, they must find a first intermediate host very
quickly, usually within one or two days of hatching. The eggs of some species don't even hatch
until they are eaten by the first intermediate host. The miracidia also do not feed, but the rediae
emanating from the sporocyst feeds on host tissues. Adult trematodes attach to the host organism
using suckers. They will eat blood cells, mucus, and loose cells; in some cases, they secrete
enzymes that begin to digest tissue before consumption. Some genera, such as Schistosoma and
Fasciola species, adhere to the host in the blood vessels, liver, and other sensitive areas, inflicting
damage to the host by releasing toxic materials through their excretory pores. The eggs of both
subclasses of trematodes are typically light-colored oval structures. The eggs of some species are
embryonated (Heterophyes heterophyes) while others are not (Paragonimus westermani). Several
species, including Metagonimus yokogawai and Opisthorchis felines, have eggs that contain
mature miracidia in addition to embryos. In digenetic trematodes, the eggs develop in a large loop-
shaped uterus. The number of eggs varies by species, but production of several hundred per day is
not unusual.
Subclass I. Digenea
Characteristics

1. They include flukes which are endoparasites in vertebrates (fishes, amphibians, reptiles,
birds and mammals) and invertebrates.
2. They live in two to four host during their life cycle. The first intermediate host is the
gastropod snail, the second intermediate host is usually an arthropod and the definitive host
is a vertebrate.

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 3. Adult Digeneans range in size from approximately 0.2 mm to 6.0 cm in length.
4. They are dorsoventrally flattened, with some members thick and fleshy and others are long,
thread-like.
5. Most flukes are armed with two suckers but without hooks. Oral suckers (around the
mouth) aid in feeding and ventral sucker/acetabulum located on the mid-ventral or
posterior side of the body prevent dislodgement.
6. The body is covered with a tegument that is made up of nonciliated cytoplasmic syncytium,
it plays a very important role in the animal’s physiology, especially against host enzymes
in gut inhabiting species.
7. Each animal has a single excretory pore at the posterior end of the body called
nephridiopore. The protonephridia excrete water and waste metabolites like iron from
haemoglobin in species that are blood-feeders.
8. There is no vagina, except for the presence of a long uterus with many shelled eggs.
9. They lay ectolecithal eggs (eggs with yolk supplied by yolk cells)
10. Life cycle is complex with many larval stages, viz; miracidium, sporocyst, redia and
cercariae
11. Life cycle involves one or more intermediate hosts.
12. Life cycle of flukes is digenetic, i.e. at least two infective stages are involved “two
generations” This means the egg hatches into a larval form, this larval form reproduces
asexually to produce numerous copies of itself. Eventually these copies change into another
larval form which in time grows into a sexually reproducing adult. This possession of an
asexual generation means that a single egg can produce not just one infectious agent, but
many, maybe even tens or hundreds of thousands.
The Digeneans are divided into two orders:
Order 1. Gastrostomata

(i.) Adults are parasites of aquatic vertebrates, mainly fishes.

(ii.) Mouth is ventral.
(iii.) Examples include Bucephalopsis
Order 2. Protostomata

(i.) Adults are parasites on all vertebrates

(ii.) Mouth is subterminal or terminal
(iii.) Examples include Schistosoma, Fasciola, Opisthorchis (Clonorchis sinensis) –
Liver fluke, Echinostoma, Paragonimus (lung fluke)

Schistosoma
Classification
Phylum - Platyhelminthes
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Class - Trematoda
Subclass - Digenea
Order - Prosotoma
Genus - Schistosoma
Habit and Habitat
Schistosoma (Blood fluke) is a pathogenic endoparasite of the intestinal veins of man and other
animals (birds and mammals). It causes small fever or oriental intestinal schistosomiasis.
Schistosomes are digenetic trematodes with man as the primary host and snail as the intermediate
host.

Structure

Figure 3: Adult Schistosoma (male and Female)

Source: Agarwa, V.K. (2011). Zoology for degree students, Nirja Publishers & Printers Pvt Ltd.

The sexes are separate with well recognized sexual dimorphism. The males are smaller and
broader, measuring 1 to 1.5 cm in length and 1 mm in breadth, while the females are larger and
narrower, measuring 2 cm in length and 0.25 mm in breadth. The head of both male and female
bears 2 suckers - oral and ventral respectively. In males the ventral sucker is large and powerful.
Behind the ventral sucker, the body of the male rolled ventrally to form a groove called “gynaeco-
phoric canal”. The canal is formed by the infolding of the ventral side of the male’s body posterior
to the ventral sucker. Body surface of the male is rough and spiny. Both sexes lack pharynx but
are armed with anterior and ventral suckers, male acetabulum is better developed than the female.
Male reproductive system contains four to seven testes opening differently to the vasa deferens.
The vasa deferens opens to the exterior by a gonopore located below the ventral sucker. In females,
the reproductive system consist of an elongated ovary (germarium), vitelline gland (vitellarium),
ootype with originating tubular uterus, mehli’s glands and a short and coiled seminal receptacle.

Life cycle

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During the process of copulation female enters into the gynaeco-phoric canal of the male in such
a way that the anterior and posterior end of the body of female projects out of the canal while the
middle part remain enclosed. Female worm do not become sexually mature until they become
associated with males. Occasionally, female remain permanently associated with her male partner.
The eggs (oval with sharp spine on the anterior end) are released into the blood vessels where they
are carried away from the major vessels to the capillaries. The spine allows some of the eggs to
rupture the capillary wall and escape into the host tissue. Eventually some eggs will escape from
the animal via the urine, faeces or spit and if they are lucky enough to find their way into a water
body they will hatch. The eggs hatch into a sort of larvae called a Miracidium (pl. Miracidia). The
miracidia larvae seek out an aquatic snail and enter its body, here they turn into another sort of
larvae called a Sporocyst. The Sporocyst is the asexual generation and it produces many daughter
Sporocysts. Sporocysts eventually become a third larval form called a Cercaria (pl. Cercariae).
These Cercariae leave the snail and actively seek out the mammalian host. The host is penetrated
through the skin while it is in the water. Cercaria larvae are not able to recognize the correct
mammalian species so they just infect any mammal. Large numbers of cercariae die as a result of
penetrating the wrong host. Each species is specifically evolved to survive the immune system of
a particular mammal species, in the wrong species they are killed off. In humans this can cause a
non-infectious temporary discomfort known as swimmers itch.

Four species of Schistosomiasis are found to infect human beings, they are all members of the
genus Schistosoma and all have snails as the intermediate host. S. mansoni is the most common
while S. japonicum represents the greatest problems in control because it infects a large number of
non-human mammals such as Cattle, Dogs and Rats.

Figure 4: Typical Life cycle of Schistosoma

Source: Agarwa, V.K. (2011). Zoology for degree students, Nirja Publishers & Printers Pvt Ltd. New Delhi, 1516pg.

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Table 1: Intermediate Snail species host of Schistosoma and their distribution

Species Snail host Distribution

Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, Egypt, Madagascar,
Schistosoma mansoni Biomphalaria spp.
the Middle East and Venezuela.
Schistosoma haematobium Bulinus spp. Africa, the Middle East, Madagascar.
Schistosoma japonicun Oncomelania spp. China, Eastern Asia and the Philippines.
Schistosoma intercalatum Bulinus spp. Central Africa.

Table 2: Other Digenetic Trematodes infecting man and their distribution

Scientific Name Snail Genera Location of Cysts Distribution

Plants-Caltrop and
Fasciolopsis buski Segmentina Asia and India
Water Chestnut
Asia, E. Europe,
Heterophyes heterophyes Pirinella, Cerithidia Fish- Mullet, Tilapia
Egypt, Middle East
East Asia and
Metagonimus yokogawaii Semisulcospira Fish- Carp, Trout
Siberia
India, Vietnam,
Gastrodiscoides hominis Helicorbis Plants-Caltrop
Philippines
Opisorchis (Clonorchis) Alocima, Bulinus,
Fish- Freshwater East Asia
sinensis Parafossarulus

Fasciola
Phylum - Platyhelminthes
Class - Trematoda
Order - Digenea
Genus - Fasciola
Species - hepatica/gigantica
General Characteristics of Fasciola species

1. It is commonly known as” Liver fluke” and is an endoparasite in the bile duct of sheep.
2. It is cosmopolitan and pathogenic and measures about 20 to 50 mm. in length and 5 to
15 mm. In width.
3. The body is leaf-like and dorsoventrally flattened.
4. Mouth and oral sucker are situated on a small protuberance -the “head”.
5. Adult worm possess a ventral sucker behind the oral sucker or acetabulum on the mid
ventral side.
6. In between the oral and ventral suckers, along the ventral surface, is present a small
genital opening.
7. A sub-terminal excretory pore or “anus” lies in the posterior part of the animal.

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 8. The digestive organ is prominent with a conspicuous, branched and convoluted
intestine.
9. They are hermaphrodite and the reproductive organs occupy almost whole of the body
space.
10. The life cycle includes an intermediate snail host called Limnea (a mollusc).
11. It causes liver rot, liver cirrhosis, eosinophilia and anemia.
12. The outermost layer is a thick cuticle and is comprised of closely packed columnar
cells.
13. Embedded in the cuticle are present many small and thick spinules, which project above
the cuticle and serve as organs of defense.
14. Below the cuticle is present a circular muscle layer, a longitudinal muscle layer, oblique
muscle layer and ultimately a parenchyma or mesenchyme.
15. Sub-cuticular cells and vertical muscle strands are distributed in parenchyma.
16. The body cavity is absent and the whole body space is filled with parenchyma cells.
17. Embedded in parenchyma are present larger rectangular or irregular egg – filled
pouches the uteri.
18. Above and below the uterine pouches are present many small and rounded pouches –
the testes filled with dots-like structures the sperms.

Figure 5a: Adult Fasciola hepatica Figure 5b: Life cycle of Fasciola species
Source: Agarwa, V.K. (2011). Zoology for degree students, Nirja Publishers & Printers Pvt Ltd. New Delhi,
1516pg.

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 Figure 6: Adult Aspidogaster conchicola Source: ADW Pocket Guides on the iOS App Store

Subclass 2: Aspidogastrea

i. They are endoparasites in the gut of fish, reptiles and bivalve molluscs
ii. Oral sucker is absent
iii. Anterior end of the body is without paired adhesive structures
iv. The entire ventral surface of the body acts as an adhesive organ with some species
having longitudinal rows of suckers with no hooks.
v. The digestive tract contains a single intestinal caecum
vi. They contain a single nephridiopore
vii. Male reproductive system has only one testis
viii. Simple life cycle, no alternation of generation
ix. Example; Aspidogaster.

Aspidogaster conchicola is a facultative parasite of vertebrates and develops within

mollusks. Infection occurs through ingestion of the egg, containing a fully developed
larva, by the mollusk's siphon. Upon entering the host, the cotylocidium (larvae) will
hatch and immediately begin maturation without further migration. At hatching, the
larvae are 13 to 17 micrometers long. Since the cotylocidium does not seek the host
as in other trematodes, it is unciliated. Instead, it has a simple posterior sucker

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lacking loculi. Vertebrates are infected by ingestion of parasitized mollusks. They
are able to either self-fertilize or mate with another individual.

Figure 7: Life cycle of an Aspidogastrea

Source: Huehner, M. K. and Etges, F. J. (1977). The life cycle and development of Aspidogaster conchicola in
the snails, Viviparus malleatus and Goniobasis livescens. Journal of Parasitology 63, 669-674.

References
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1516pg.
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Parasitology, 57: 848-854.
Bakker, K., C. Davids. (1973). Notes on the life history of Aspidogaster conchicola Baer (Trematoda;
Aspidogastridae). Journal of Helminthology, 47: 269-276.
Halton, D., R. Lyness. (1971). Ultrastructure of the tegument and associated structures of Aspidogaster
conchicola (Trematoda; Aspidogastrea). Journal of Parasitology, 57: 1198-1210.
Huehner, M. (1987). Aspidogastrid and digenetic trematode single and double infections in the gastropod
Elimia livescens from the Upper Cuyahoga River, Ohio USA. Proceedings of the Helminthological
Society of Washington, 54 (2): 200-203.
Huehner, M., K. Hannan, M. Garvin. (1989). Feeding habits and marginal organ histochemistry of
Aspidogaster conchicola (Trematoda; Aspidogastrea). Journal of Parasitology, 75 (6): 848-852.
Roberts, L., J. Janovy Jr. (2000). Foundations of Parasitology, 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
Rohde, K. (1998). "Aspidogastrea" (On-line).
http://ag.arizona.edu/ENTO/tree/eukaryotes/animals/platyhelminthes/aspidogastrea/aspidogastre
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