Coelenterates is an obsolete collective term historically used in zoology for a paraphyletic grouping that combined Cnidaria and Ctenophora based on shared features such as a simple diploblastic body organization, a single gastrovascular cavity, and radial symmetry. Modern systematics rejects Coelenterata as a formal taxon because molecular phylogenetics and detailed morphological analyses indicate that cnidarians and ctenophores are distinct, independently branching metazoan lineages with profound differences in neuromuscular organization, cell types (e.g., cnidocytes vs. colloblasts), and developmental programs. The term now persists mainly in older literature and high-level discussions of early-diverging animal body plans.
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