placozoan

plural placozoans

1. biologyAny of a group of balloon-shaped marine organisms, of the phylum Placozoa, considered to be the simplest living animals.

   Placozoans have a lower side facing the substratum and an upper side facing the water body.

   2019, Oliver Voigt, Michael Eitel, “3: Placozoa”, in Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa, editor, Handbook of Zoology: Miscellaneous Invertebrates, Walter de Gruyter, page 41

   2 more examples

   2010, Vicki Buchsbaum Pearse, Oliver Voigt, 12: Field Biology of Placozoans (Trichoplax), Rob Desalle, Bernd Schierwater (editors), Key Transitions in Animal Evolution, Taylor & Francis (CRC Press), Science Publishers, page 273, Similarly, at Madang, Papua New Guinea, a small rhabdocoel flatworm crawling on a slide among placozoans was observed contacting a placozoan, recoiling vigorously, and changing its direction of movement only to encounter another placozoan and repeat this behavior several times.

   Although ciliates, nematodes and are other small animals are observed around or even on placozoans, they do not seem to elicit any response (Pearse and Voigt, 2007).

   2018, Fatik Baran Mandal, Biology of Non-chordates, 2nd edition, PHI Learning, page 112

   Synonyms: placozoon