Summary
Molecular data suggest that the body plans of the major phyla for which the data exist originated independently of one another, although a well-defined branching sequence of living phyla is indicated by 18S rRNA phylogenetic trees. It is plausible, then, that the branching occurred much earlier in the history of the metazoa than has been suspected, virtually among acoelomate-grade forms during the Late Precambrian. If so, the locomotory adaptations associated with the rise of the body plans of living phyla must each be traced as an independent evolutionary invention, chiefly in the Early Cambrian.
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Valentine, J.W. (1991). The Sequence of Body Plans and Locomotory Systems During the Precambrian-Cambrian Transition. In: Schmidt-Kittler, N., Vogel, K. (eds) Constructional Morphology and Evolution. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76156-0_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76156-0_25
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