All placozoans are superficially identical. But comparative genomic data reveals the presence of different genera. This is the first time that a new animal genus has been defined solely by genomics.

Animal systematics and taxonomy constitute the scientific frameworks by which the diversity of animal life is discovered, described and organised. Taxonomy provides the rules and conventions for ...

Six animals pulled from the deep ocean were so biologically distinct that researchers had to create entirely new taxonomic ranks to classify them, from a new order of sponges to a new supergroup of ...

Carl Linnaeus was probably not the first scientist to realize the inherent connectedness of life on this planet. But he articulated and codified it. In the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, ...

Molecular taxonomy has transformed the classification and identification of polychaete worms by integrating DNA sequence data with traditional morphology. By analysing genes such as mitochondrial ...

Up until quite recently, the animal phylum Placozoa enjoyed a unique position in animal systematics. It was the only phylum to which only a single species had ever been assigned: Trichoplax adhaerens.