placozoan

English

Etymology

Placozoa +‎ -an; compare protozoan, protozoon.

Noun

placozoan (plural placozoans)

1. (zoology) Any of a group of balloon-shaped marine organisms, of the phylum Placozoa, considered to be the simplest living animals.

   Synonym: placozoon

   • 2010, Vicki Buchsbaum Pearse, Oliver Voigt, 12: Field Biology of Placozoans (Trichoplax), Rob Desalle, Bernd Schierwater (editors), Key Transitions in Animal Evolution, Taylor & Francis (CRC Press), Science Publishers, page 273,

     Similarly, at Madang, Papua New Guinea, a small rhabdocoel flatworm crawling on a slide among placozoans was observed contacting a placozoan, recoiling vigorously, and changing its direction of movement only to encounter another placozoan and repeat this behavior several times.

   • 2018, Fatik Baran Mandal, Biology of Non-chordates, 2nd edition, PHI Learning, page 112:

     Although ciliates, nematodes and are other small animals are observed around or even on placozoans, they do not seem to elicit any response (Pearse and Voigt, 2007).

   • 2019, Oliver Voigt, Michael Eitel, “3: Placozoa”, in Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa, editor, Handbook of Zoology: Miscellaneous Invertebrates, Walter de Gruyter, page 41:

     Placozoans have a lower side facing the substratum and an upper side facing the water body.

Translations

any species of the phylum Placozoa

• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: Plattentier n, Placozoen pl
• Italian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• Placozoa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Placozoa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Placozoa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons