Xenambulacraria
| Xenambulacraria Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Examples of all four branches of Xenambulacraria | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Subkingdom: | Eumetazoa |
| Clade: | ParaHoxozoa |
| Clade: | Bilateria |
| Clade: | Xenambulacraria Bourlat et al, 2006 |
| Clades | |
Xenambulacraria is a proposed clade of animals with bilateral symmetry as an embryo, consisting of the Xenacoelomorpha (i.e., Xenoturbella and acoelomorphs) and the Ambulacraria (i.e., echinoderms and hemichordates).
If confirmed, the clade would either be the sister group to the chordates (if deuterostomes are monophyletic) or the sister group to all the other bilaterians, grouped together in Centroneuralia (with deuterostomes being paraphyletic).
Although the validity of the clade relies mostly on phylogenomics, molecular genetics studies have proposed pigment cell clusters expressing polyketide synthase (PKS) and sulfotransferase as a synapomorphy of Xenambulacraria.