Starfish first appeared in the fossil record in the Cambrian. The first known asterozoans were the Somasteroidea, which exhibit characteristics of both groups. Starfish are infrequently found as fossils, possibly because their hard skeletal components separate as the animal decays. Despite this, there are a few places where accumulations of complete skeletal structures occur, fossilized in place in Lagerstätten — so-called "starfish beds". By the late Paleozoic, the crinoids and blastoids were the predominant echinoderms, and some limestones from this period are made almost entirely from fragments from these groups. In the two major extinction events that occurred during the late
Phylum provided, the traditional divisions listed below have been reduced to a very much lower level, e.g. subclasses. Phylum Microsporidia is generally included in kingdom Fungi, though its exact relations remain uncertain, and it is considered a protozoan by the International Society of Protistologists (see Protista, below). Molecular analysis of Zygomycota has found it to be polyphyletic (its members do not share an immediate ancestor), which is considered undesirable by many biologists. Accordingly, there is a proposal to abolish the Zygomycota phylum. Its members would be divided between phylum Glomeromycota and four new subphyla "incertae sedis" (of uncertain placement): Entomophthoromycotina, Kickxellomycotina,