Two new Japanese species of Gastrotricha (Chaetonotida, Chaetonotidae, Lepidodermella and Dichaeturidae, Dichaetura), with Comments on the Diversity of Gastrotrichs in Rice Paddies.

Two new species of freshwater gastrotrichs are described from rice paddies in Otsu, Shiga, Japan. Lepidodermella acantholepida n. sp.

Phylogenetic analysis of dicyemid mesozoans (phylum Dicyemida) from innexin amino acid sequences: dicyemids are not related to Platyhelminthes.

Dicyemid mesozoans are endoparasites, or endosymbionts, found only in the renal sac of benthic cephalopod molluscs. The body organization of dicyemids is very simple, consisting of usually 10 to 40 cells, with neither body cavities nor differentiated organs. Dicyemids were considered as primitive animals, and the out-group of all metazoans, or as occupying a basal position of lophotrochozoans close to flatworms.