The Aschelminthes (sometimes Aeschelminthes), are an obsolete phylum of pseudocoelomate and other similar animals, including as classes the Nematoda, Rotifera, Gastrotricha, Kinorhyncha, and Nematomorpha, and sometimes the Priapulida and Entoprocta. Many of these groups are no longer considered closely related and have been promoted to phyla in their own right. The name is now generally only used as an informal term.
External link
Introduction to the "Aschelminth" Phyla (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aschelminthes/aschelminthes.html)
The name aschelminth, which means “sac worm,” refers to the fluid-filled cavity that is present in many of these animals and serves as a kind of skeleton.
Aschelminthes frequently live in water or soil or as parasites of plants or animals.
Other pseudocoelomates that are probably closely related to the aschelminthes are the spiny-headed worm and the moss animals.
Aschelminthes is often encountered as a phylum in older animal classifications, uniting most or all of the pseudocoelomate taxa.
Of the previous "Aschelminthes", the Scalidophora (including Priapulida and Kinorhyncha), Nematoda and Nematomorpha are included in Ecdysozoa.
Other prominent pseudocoelomate taxa that were generally not included in Aschelminthes are the Acanthocephala (Platyzoa, probably within Rotifera) and the Tardigrada (Ecdysozoa, within Panarthropoda).
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