''Polyplacotoma mediterranea'' is a species in the
phylum Placozoa
The Placozoa are a basal form of marine free-living (non-parasitic) multicellular organism. They are the simplest in structure of all animals. Three genera have been found: the classical ''Trichoplax adhaerens'', '' Hoilungia hongkongensis'', a ...
, only representative of the genus ''Polyplacotoma''.
They differ greatly from other species of placozoans with regards to their morphology and genetic makeup. ''P. mediterranea'' has the smallest mitogenome, the lowest GC content, and the smallest intergenic spacer regions of all placozoans.
Their bodily structure consists of elongated polytomous body branches, as well as a maximum size that is greater than 10 mm in length. The mitochondrial genome of ''Polyplacotoma mediterranea'' is also very compact and contains overlapping protein and tRNA gene codes.
[Miyazawa, H., Osigus, H., Rolfes, S., Kamm, K., Schierwater, B., & Nakano, H. (2020). Mitochondrial Genome Evolution of Placozoans: Gene Rearrangements and Repeat Expansions. Genome Biology and Evolution, 13.]
References
Placozoa
Monotypic animal genera
Animals described in 2019
Parazoa
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