Lophophorata
| Lophophorata Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Bryozoa | |
| Brachiopod | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Subkingdom: | Eumetazoa |
| Clade: | ParaHoxozoa |
| Clade: | Bilateria |
| Clade: | Nephrozoa |
| Clade: | Protostomia |
| Clade: | Spiralia |
| Superphylum: | Lophotrochozoa |
| Clade: | Lophophorata Meglitsch, 1972 |
| Clades | |
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| Synonyms | |
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The Lophophorata (also called Tentaculata; not to be confused with Tentaculata Eschscholtz 1825, a class within the Ctenophora) are a lophotrochozoan clade consisting of the Brachiozoa and the Bryozoa. They have a lophophore. On morphological grounds lophophorates have been assessed as deuterostomes, but molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest that they are protostomes. Fossil finds of the "tommotiid" Wufengella suggest that they evolved from worm-like animals that resembled annelids. The phylogenetic relationships between these groups are as follows: