The article reports the sequencing and analysis of the *Trichoplax adhaerens* genome, a simple free-living animal that may represent an early stage in metazoan evolution. The genome, consisting of approximately 98 million base pairs, is analyzed using phylogenetic methods, which suggest that placozoans belong to a "eumetazoan" clade that includes cnidarians and bilaterians, with sponges as the earliest diverging animals. Despite the apparent simplicity of *Trichoplax*, its genome exhibits conserved gene content, structure, and synteny relative to more complex eumetazoan genomes. The genome encodes a rich array of transcription factor and signaling pathway genes typically associated with diverse cell types and developmental processes in eumetazoans, indicating potential cryptic cellular complexity or unobserved life history stages. The study also highlights the presence of conserved genomic features, such as introns and local gene order, which suggest that many structural aspects of the small *Trichoplax* genome may be primitive eumetazoan characteristics. The authors conclude that *Trichoplax* retains many ancestral features of its last common ancestor with cnidarians and bilaterians, and that further studies are needed to understand the physiology, behavior, and life history of placozoans.The article reports the sequencing and analysis of the *Trichoplax adhaerens* genome, a simple free-living animal that may represent an early stage in metazoan evolution. The genome, consisting of approximately 98 million base pairs, is analyzed using phylogenetic methods, which suggest that placozoans belong to a "eumetazoan" clade that includes cnidarians and bilaterians, with sponges as the earliest diverging animals. Despite the apparent simplicity of *Trichoplax*, its genome exhibits conserved gene content, structure, and synteny relative to more complex eumetazoan genomes. The genome encodes a rich array of transcription factor and signaling pathway genes typically associated with diverse cell types and developmental processes in eumetazoans, indicating potential cryptic cellular complexity or unobserved life history stages. The study also highlights the presence of conserved genomic features, such as introns and local gene order, which suggest that many structural aspects of the small *Trichoplax* genome may be primitive eumetazoan characteristics. The authors conclude that *Trichoplax* retains many ancestral features of its last common ancestor with cnidarians and bilaterians, and that further studies are needed to understand the physiology, behavior, and life history of placozoans.