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Diagram of nematode

The nematodes or roundworms are one of the most diverse of all animal phyla. They are one of the protostome phyla.

Nematode species look very similar to one another. Over 80,000 have been described, of which over 15,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of described and undescribed roundworms might be more than 500,000.

The body structure is fairly constant. A thick cuticle gives protection, and acts as a kind of hydrostatic skeleton. Caenorhabditis elegans has had its genetics studied intensively, and had its genome analysed in 1998. DNA sequence analysis of nematodes is quite advanced, including trees of species relationship.