The Benthozoa or Myriazoa
are a proposed
basal animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hol ...
clade consisting of the
Porifera
Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a Basal (phylogenetics) , basal clade and a sister taxon of the Eumetazoa , diploblasts. They are sessility (motility) , sessile ...
and
ParaHoxozoa
ParaHoxozoa (or Parahoxozoa) is a clade of animals that consists of Bilateria, Placozoa, and Cnidaria.
Phylogeny
The relationship of Parahoxozoa relative to the two other animal lineages Ctenophora and Porifera is debated. Some phylogenomic ...
as a
sister group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
of
Ctenophora
Ctenophora (; : ctenophore ) is a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and they are ...
.
[
]
An alternative phylogeny is given by the Porifera-sister hypothesis in which Porifera are the first diverging animal group.
References
Animal taxa
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