Cephalodiscida is one of two orders in the class Pterobranchia, which are small, worm-shaped animals. Members belong to the hemichordates.[1][2] Species in this order are sessile, living in clear water and secrete tubes on the ocean floor.[3]

Cephalodiscida
Cephalodiscus dodecalophus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Cephalodiscida

Fowler, 1892
Families
Synonyms
  • Atubaridae Sato 1936
  • Eocephalodiscidae Kozlowski 1949
  • Melanostrophidae Zessin & von Puttkamer 1994

Taxonomy

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The order is a small one, with only two known families, each containing a single extant genus. The validity of the family Atubaridae, who has only a sole member, is regarded as questionable.[4]

References

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  1. ^ animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Eol.org
  3. ^ Shipley, A.E. (1902). Zoology: An Elementary Textbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  4. ^ Halanych, K. M. (1996-02-01). "Convergence in the Feeding Apparatuses of Lophophorates and Pterobranch Hemichordates Revealed by 18S rDNA: An Interpretation". The Biological Bulletin. 190 (1): 1–5. doi:10.2307/1542669. ISSN 0006-3185.
  5. ^ Maletz, Jörg (2014). "The classification of the Pterobranchia (Cephalodiscida and Graptolithina)". Bulletin of Geosciences. 89 (3): 477–540. doi:10.3140/bull.geosci.1465. ISSN 1214-1119.

Harmer. S. F. 1905. The Pterobranchia ol the Siboga-Expedition. Siboga Exped. Monogr. 26. 1-131