FAM46C and specifically the DUF1693 is traceable throughout the known metazoans, with a distant homolog found in Trichoplax adhaerens, a member of the basal multicellular organismal group Placozoa.
Like an Amoeba, it has no regular outline, although the lower surface is somewhat concave, and the upper surface is always flattened.
Analysis of the genome suggests that the last common ancestor of sponges and eumetazoan animals (a clade that contains all the higher animals except the sponges and placozoans) was more complex both genetically and morphologically than had previously been thought.
The Parahoxozoa are a proposed grouping of animals based on presence of at least a single Hox/ParaHox gene, uniting Placozoa, Cnidaria (jellyfish) and Bilateria.