Deuterostome

Deuterostomia Temporal range: late Ediacaran – Recent
A Sea cucumber
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Subkingdom:	Eumetazoa
Superphylum:	Deuterostomia Grobben, 1908
(unranked):	Bilateria
Phyla
Echinodermata (20,000 species) Hemichordata (71 species) Chordata (63,000+ species) Xenoturbellida (2 species) Acoelomorpha (20+ families) †Vetulicolia (8 species of Cambrian fossils)

Deuterostomes are a superphylum of animals, a taxon above the level of phylum. It is not part of the usual system of classification.

They are bilateral animals, and are contrasted with the protostomes. Deuterostomes are distingued by their embryo: in deuterostomes, the first opening (the blastopore) becomes the anus, while in protostomes it becomes the mouth.

Classification

There are these living phyla of deuterostomes:

• Chordata (vertebrates and their kin)
• Echinodermata (starfishes, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, etc.)
• Hemichordata (acorn worms and possibly graptolites)
• Xenoturbellida (2 species of worm-like animals)
• Acoelomorpha