Superclass incertae sedis (includes mainly the cartilaginous fish such as sharks, skates, rays, and chimaeras) Infraphylum Gnathostomata (includes jawed vertebrates such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, bony fish and cartilaginous fish) Infraphylum Agnatha (jawless fish, hagfish and lampreys) Subphylum Vertebrata (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish) They consist of two subphyla, two infraphyla and three superclasses. Phylum Chordata - It includes the vertebrates, tunicates, and lancelets. One can refer to this classification to know what is a deuterostome and how it evolved.
This superphylum along with Protostomia and Xenacoelomorpha, lead to the formation of Bilateria, which includes animals having a bilateral symmetry and three germ layers.Ī detailed classification of deuterostomes along with different subphylum have been listed below. The deuterostomes consist of three major clades which are - Chordata, Echinodermata and Hemichordata. Some of the common Deuterostome examples include vertebrates, sea stars, and crinoids. In this group of animals, the development of the anus starts before the formation of their mouth during embryonic development. Classification of Deuterostomiaĭeuterostomia are mainly a group of animals (Kingdom: Animalia) that are characterized by their process of anus formation. Phylum Ambulacraria, on the other hand, consists of all the exclusively marine Echinoderms (for example, sea stars, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, and sea lilies) and Hemichordates (includes the soft-bodied and benthic worm-like animals). The phylum Chordata again consists of two marine groups, i.e., Cephalocordata (includes the fish-like lancelets), Tunicata (for example, the sea squirts, salps and relatives) and Vertebrates (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals). The phyla Echinodermata, Ambulacraria and Chordata are included under the refined classification of the superphylum Deuterostomia. In this process, the lophophorates were removed from Deuterostome and was combined with other protostome animals to form the superphylum Lophotrochozoa. But in the year 1995, this superphylum was again redefined on the basis of DNA molecular sequence analyses. Initially, based on the morphological and embryological characteristics, the phyla Brachiopoda, Chaetognatha, Bryozoa and Phoronida were included under Deuterostome. On this page, students can find all the necessary information on deuterostome meaning, its characteristics and classification. All these groups are classified together under deuterostomia based on their embryological development and molecular criteria. Therefore, deuterostomia or deuterostome can be defined as the group of animals that belongs to the phylum of Echinodermata, Chordata and Hemichordata. The animals belonging to the phyla Echinodermata and Chordata such as starfish, sea squirts, sea urchins and lancelets are some of the common deuterostome examples. These groups of animals are bilaterally symmetrical and consist of a blastopore which later develops into the anus during embryonic development. Deuterostome is thus a superphylum that includes groups of animals belonging to the kingdom Animalia. The Word Deuterostome Means - second mouth.