Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Vermes

Vermes ("worms") is a long-obsolete taxon used by Linnaeus and Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals. Linnaeus divided the group as follows:

Of these only the Mollusca are still used, and their composition has changed almost entirely. In Linnaeus' scheme they included only soft-bodied forms - the cephalopods, which are still counted as molluscs, but also various cnidarians, echinoderms, polychaetes, and other such creatures. Shelled molluscs were placed in the Testacea, together with barnacles and tube worms.