Holozoa
group of organisms that includes animals and their closest single-celled relatives, but excludes fungi / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Holozoa is a group of living things that includes animals, and some single-celled relatives of animals. It excludes fungi.[1][2][3][4] Holozoa is also an old name for the tunicate genus Distaplia.[5]
Quick Facts Scientific classification, Subgroups ...
Holozoa | |
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Orange elephant ear sponge, Agelas clathrodes, in foreground. Two corals in the background: a sea fan, Iciligorgia schrammi, and a sea rod, Plexaurella nutans. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade: | Amorphea |
Clade: | Obazoa |
(unranked): | Opisthokonta |
(unranked): | Holozoa Lang et al., 2002 |
Subgroups | |
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Holozoa is a clade: a group of plants or animals with a common ancestor. It has all organisms close to animals.[6]
An example of a well-known holozoan is the choanoflagellate, which looks a lot like the cells of a sponge. Proterospongia is an example of a choanoflagellate that might give clues as to how sponges evolved.