Interstitial kinorhynch collected off Florida .Photo © Rick Hochberg via Encylopedia of Life, Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
| Scalidophora | ||
| Ecdysozoa | Overview |
| Ecdysozoa | Ecdysozoa | Protostoma
└─Ecdysozoa
└─► |
Scalidophora | |
| Ecdysozoa | Nematoida |
|
Abbreviated Dendrogram
Bilateria
├─Deuterostomia
└─┬─Spiralia
│
└─Ecdysozoa = paraphyletic Scalidophora?
├─Markuelia
├─Kinorhyncha
╞═Palaeoscolecida
╞═Priapozoa
│ └─┬─Priapulida
│ └─┬─Sirilorica
│ └─Loricifera
└─┬─Nematoida
└─Panarthropoda
|
Contents
Overview |
|
Interstitial kinorhynch collected off Florida . Photo © Rick Hochberg via Encylopedia of Life, Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike |
The Scalidophora are a clade represented today by three rather distinct phyla. Although relatively unimportant now, were numerous and diverse during the early Paleozoic. During the Cambrian, they were far more common and diverse. Whilst some taxa, such as the Cambrian Priapulids have hardy changed, other groups, like the Palaeoscolecida, represent quite distinct taxa that may or may not be related to modern forms. Although usually portrayed as a monophyletic assemblage, they may be a paraphyletic or ancestral grade of Ecdysozoa, especially when Cambrian forms are cons9idered. If this is so, then Scalidophora in the broad sense would be equivalent to Ecdysozoa.
Pending a more complete coverage, this unit will basically be a collection of holding pages with only a brief description. MAK120420
| Ecdysozoa | Ecdysozoa | Loricifera |
page MAK120420, last modified 121210. All original text content by M. Alan Kazlev Creative Commons Attribution. Other content copyright respective authors or publishers