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Taxa

Dicyemida

Phylum

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Dicyemida, also called Rhombozoa, is a phylum of extremely simple, microscopic animals that live exclusively as parasites in the kidneys of cephalopods such as octopuses and squid. A typical dicyemid consists of only a few dozen cells arranged around a single long axial cell, making it one of the structurally simplest of all known animals, and its greatly reduced body plan has made the true evolutionary relationship of the phylum to other animal groups difficult to resolve.

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