A division of the animal kingdom sometimes ranked as intermediate between the Protozoa and the Metazoa. These animals are unassignable to any of the better-known phyla, as usually defined. In the absence of proof concerning their relationships, and in view of the disagreement among zoologists relative to their affinities and even with respect to the facts and interpretation of their structure and life cycle, they are treated as a small phylum somewhere between Protozoa and Platyhelminthes. No particular phylogenetic interpretation should be attached to this placement.