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Saturday, 11 October 2014

Understanding the phylogenetic relationships of Animal Phyla.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelom

In the past, zoologists grouped animals based on characteristics related to the coelom. The presence or absence of a coelom and the way in which it was formed were believed to be important in understanding the phylogenetic relationships of animal phyla. However, recent molecular phylogenies have suggested this characteristic is not as informative as previously believed: the coelom may have arisen twice, once in protostomes and once among the deuterostomes.The coelomate phyla comprise Entoprocta, Ectoprocta, Phoronida, Brachiopoda, Mollusca, Priapulida, Sipuncula, Echiura, Annelida, Tardigrada, Pentastoma, Onychophora, Arthropoda, Pogonophora, Echinodermata, Chaetognatha, Hemichordata and Chordata (i.e., from tiny sessile aquatic animals to great whales and everything in between).

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