Branchiostomidae

Branchiostomidae
Branchiostoma lanceolotum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Cephalochordata
Class: Leptocardii
Order: Amphioxiformes
Family: Branchiostomidae

Branchiostomidae (syn: Branchiostomatidae) is the family that includes most of the lancelets, which are tiny chordates without a true spine but only a flexible notochord.

Almost all lancelets belong to Branchiostoma, the one and only genus in the family Branchiostomidae. The genus was originally going to be called Amphioxus but was later changed to its current name.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Branchiostoma.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/lancelet.aspx

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.