Metazoa comprises 35–40 phyla that include some 1.3 million described species.
Phylogenetic analyses of metazoan interrelationships have progressed in the past two …

▪ Abstract Molecular tools have profoundly rearranged our understanding of metazoan
phylogeny. Initially based on the nuclear small ribosomal subunit (SSU or 18S) gene, recent …

Morphology has traditionally played a pivotal role in animal phylogeny since the first
evolutionary biologists began to decipher the animal tree of life. In recent times, however …

Background Within the complex metazoan phylogeny, the relationships of the three
lophophorate lineages, ectoprocts, brachiopods and phoronids, are particularly elusive. To …

The advent of numerical methods for analysing phylogenetic relationships, along with the
study of morphology and molecular data, has driven our understanding of animal …

Rotifers comprise a modestly sized phylum (≈ 1,850 species) of tiny (ca. 50–2,000 μm),
bilaterally symmetrical, eutelic metazoans, traditionally grouped within the …

Recent hypotheses on metazoan phylogeny have recognized three main clades of bilaterian
animals: Deuterostomia, Ecdysozoa and Lophotrochozoa. The acoelomate and …

Compared with most animal phyla, the Nematomorpha, also known as hair worms, is a
relatively understudied metazoan phylum. Although nematomorphs make up only 1 of 3 …

A new microscopic aschelminth-like animal, Limnognathia maerski nov. gen. et sp., is
described from a cold spring at Disko Island, West Greenland, and assigned to …

Of the three major bilaterian clades, Lophotrochozoa has the greatest diversity and disparity
of body forms and is the least understood in terms of phylogenetic history. Within this clade …