Parazoa

(noun)

a taxonomic subkingdom within the kingdom Animalia; the sponges

Related Terms

Examples of Parazoa in the following topics:

  • Complex Tissue Structure

    • Animals, besides Parazoa (sponges), are characterized by specialized tissues such as muscle, nerve, connective, and epithelial tissues.
    • The animal kingdom is divided into Parazoa (sponges) and Eumetazoa (all other animals).
    • As very simple animals, the organisms in group Parazoa ("beside animal") do not contain true specialized tissues.

  • Constructing an Animal Phylogenetic Tree

    • The current understanding of evolutionary relationships between animal, or Metazoa, phyla begins with the distinction between "true" animals with true differentiated tissues, called Eumetazoa, and animal phyla that do not have true differentiated tissues (such as the sponges), called Parazoa.
    • Both Parazoa and Eumetazoa evolved from a common ancestral organism that resembles the modern-day protists called choanoflagellates.