Aschelminthesn.
/ˌaʃhɛlˈmɪnθiːz/, /ˌaskhɛlˈmɪnθːz/, U.S. /ˌæʃɛlˈmɪnθiz/, /ˌæskɛlˈmɪnθiz/ Zoology.
With plural (or occasionally singular) agreement: a group of chiefly aquatic invertebrates, formerly regarded as a phylum of pseudocoelomates but now known to include some acoelomates, and comprising a number of classes that are now treated as unrelated phyla. Also with plural agreement: animals of this phylum (collectively or individually); aschelminths. Formerly also called Nemathelminthes or Pseudocoelomata.The Aschelminthes usually included the nematodes and rotifers and the minor groups Acanthocephala, Gastrotricha, Kinorhyncha, Loricifera, and Nematomorpha, together with (in some schemes) the Chaetognatha, Entoprocta, Priapulida, and Tardigrada.
ΚΠ
1937 Jrnl. Parasitol. 23 233 The authors place the class Nematoda in the phylum Aschelminthes of the subkingdom Vermes.
1961 Science 24 Mar. 879/1 In more recent publications they [sc. Priapulida] are classified usually as pseudocoelomates in the division Aschelminthes.
1971 C. Johansen in R. E. Pfadt Fund. Appl. Entomol. (ed. 2) iv. 87 Other invertebrate phyla which contain agricultural pests are the Aschelminthes, Platyhelminthes, and Mollusca.
1994 Nature 20 Jan. 225/3 Chaetognaths are commonly allied with pseudocoelomates (= Aschelminthes) and with deuterostomes, but recent molecular work supports the view that they diverged near the roots of the Metazoa.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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