Turbellarians

World list of turbellarian worms:
Xenacoelomorpha, Catenulida, Rhabditophora
(formerly class Turbellaria of the phylum Platyhelminthes)

(part of WoRMS - the World Register of Marine Species)

Quick stats

6,426 accepted species
11,407 species names including synonyms

Taxonomic data

Much of the data listed on these pages come from a database compiled by S. Tyler, L. Bush, S. Schilling, and M. Hooge with additions from specialists of the taxonomic groups covered by it. That original database (Turbellarian Taxonomic Database) is still maintained and, while this WoRMS listing is maintained in parallel with it, the two differ not only in how the data are displayed but in some of the taxonomic relationships depicted. We recommend that users of WoRMS searching for data on Platyhelminthes or Xenacoelomorpha (Nemertodermatida and Acoela, in particular) consult the Turbellarian Taxonomic Database as well.

About turbellarians

The term "turbellarian" is a useful name for a variety of soft-bodied, ciliated worms even though this group of worms is polyphyletic and so no longer corresponds to a taxonomically accepted name. See the section "About turbellarians" on the opening page (or from the link "Bilateria [Main hierarchy]" at the top of other pages) of the Turbellarian Taxonomic Database for explanation.

Citation

Usage of data from the World List of Turbellarian worms in scientific publications should be acknowledged by citing as follows:

Tyler, S., Artois, T.; Schilling, S.; Hooge, M.; Bush, L.F. (eds) (2006-2025). World List of turbellarian worms: Acoelomorpha, Catenulida, Rhabditophora. Accessed at https://www.marinespecies.org/turbellarians on 2025-10-31

If the data from the World List of Turbellarian worms constitute a substantial proportion of the records used in analyses, the chief editor(s) of the database should be contacted. There may be additional data which may prove valuable to such analyses.

Individual pages are individually authored and dated. These can be cited separately: the proper citation is provided at the bottom of each page.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0118804.

Editors

Artois, Tom: Platyhelminthes
Hooge, Matthew D.: Acoelomorpha, Nemertodermatida (requested by Seth Tyler - March 2025), Platyhelminthes, Xenacoela (requested by Seth Tyler - March 2025)

World list of turbellarian worms: Xenacoelomorpha, Catenulida, Rhabditophora (formerly class Turbellaria of the phylum Platyhelminthes)