Trichoplax adhaerens

Schulze, 1883 · species

image placeholder — illustration coming later

Animalia/Placozoa/Uniplacotomia/Trichoplacea/Trichoplacidae/Trichoplax

At a glance

Occurrence records1

Data sources9

Biological traits2

DNA specimens11

eDNA detections2

Sources9 archives

Databases and archives Trichoplax adhaerens's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation11 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗

BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics11 specimens↗

Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗

GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗

NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗

Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗

On this page6 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements1 literature sources2 traits

Occurrence & distributionGBIF1 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 0 countries2 detections

DNA & barcodingBOLD11 specimens

Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI≈106 Mbp

01Narrative

Trichoplax adhaerens is one of the three named species in the phylum Placozoa. The others are Hoilungia hongkongensis and Polyplacotoma mediterranea. The Placozoa is a basal group of multicellular animals (metazoa). Trichoplax are very flat organisms around a millimetre in diameter, lacking any organs or internal structures. They have two cellular layers: the top epitheloid layer is made of ciliated "cover cells" flattened toward the outside of the organism, and the bottom layer is made up of cylinder cells that possess cilia used in locomotion, and gland cells that lack cilia. Between these layers is the fibre syncytium, a liquid-filled cavity strutted open by star-like fibres. Trichoplax feed by absorbing food particles—mainly microbes—with their underside. They generally reproduce asexually, by dividing or budding, but can also reproduce sexually. Though Trichoplax has a small genome in comparison to other animals, nearly 87% of its 11,514 predicted protein-coding genes are identifiably similar to known genes in other animals.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesSeaLifeBase

Habitat & environment2

Habitat saltwateryes

Habitat zonebenthic

05DNA & barcoding11 specimens

A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Trichoplax adhaerens has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

DNA specimens11

BINs1

Marker genes10

eDNA detections2

Marker genes sequenced

★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.

★COI-5PCOIICOXIIIND1ND2ND3ND4ND4LND5-0ND6

animal barcodemitochondrial

06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI

The complete instruction manual Trichoplax adhaerens carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.

Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is

Genome size≈105 631 681 bp assembly estimate

Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).

BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb

FUNGUS0.04 Gb

THIS GENOME Trichoplax adhaerens0.11 Gb

INSECT0.25 Gb

HUMAN3.2 Gb

WHEAT17 Gb

FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb

Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers

Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.

Assembly levelScaffold

Completeness88.8% BUSCO

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type1 records

Wild obs. + sensor1

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO4 km²

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

Coordinate accuracy

no georeferenced coordinates · 1 records without

Open the mapobservation + sensor1

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

09Environmental DNA2 detections

Where the DNA of Trichoplax adhaerens was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.

Signal

Detections DNA found2

Studies independent surveys1

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 2 detections have coordinates

Open the map0 countries0

How strong is each trace?

DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.

How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.

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