Rhabditophora
| Rhabditophora Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Macrostomum lignano, a rhabditophoran | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Platyhelminthes |
| Subphylum: | Rhabditophora Ehlers, 1985 |
| Subgroups | |
Rhabditophora (from rhabdito-, rhabdite + Greek -φορος [-phoros], bearer, i.e., "rhabdite bearers") is a subphylum (previously a class) of flatworms. It includes all parasitic flatworms (clade Neodermata) and most free-living species that were previously grouped in the now obsolete class Turbellaria. Therefore, it contains the majority of the species in the phylum Platyhelminthes, excluding only the catenulids, to which they appear to be the sister group.
The clade Rhabditophora was originally erected by Ulrich Ehlers in 1985 based on morphological analyses and its monophyly was later confirmed by molecular studies.