Ambulacraria Ambulacraria Ambulacraria or Coelomopora is a Superphylum of invertebrate phyla which includes echinoderms and hemichordates; a member of this group is called an ambulacrarian. Phylogenetic analysis suggest the echinoderms and hemichordates separated around 533 million years ago. The Ambulacraria are part of the deuterostomes, a larger clade that also includes the Chordata, Vetulicolia and Saccorhytus. The two living clades with representative organisms are: The group Xenoturbellida (two species of worm-like animals) has previously been considered to be in this clade, but is now considered to be placed more basally among Metazoans. Fossil taxa that may lie on the stem lineage:
Nephridium In freshwater crustacea, the saccate metanephridia are especially large because they are involved in osmoregulation. They have to remove large amounts of water from the tissues, as the crustacean's tissues are hypertonic to the surrounding water. A protonephridium ("proto" = "first") is a network of dead-end tubules lacking internal openings found in the phyla Platyhelminthes, Nemertea, Rotifera and Chordata (lancelets). The ends are called "flame cells" (if ciliated) or "solenocytes" (if flagellated); they function in osmoregulation and ionoregulation, respectively. The terminal cells are located at the blind end of the protonephridium. Each cell has one or more cilia and their