Parent taxon: Lophophorata according to M. A. Wilson et al. 2011
See also Farsan 1994, Niko 2000 and Sepkoski 2002
Sister taxa: Brachiopoda, Conicula, Hyolitha, Phlogites, Phoronida, Tentaculita
Subtaxa: Contractenidae Costatulitidae Dentiannulatidae Gotlandellitidae Hemicricus Laminitidae Ljaschenkovites Longulatus Multiconidae Samarites Sektionitidae Tentaculitidae Uniconidae Vjalovites
Ecology: stationary semi-infaunal suspension feeder
Distribution:
• Carboniferous of Australia (3 collections), Canada (1: Northwest Territories), United States (1: Indiana)
• Devonian of Afghanistan (5), Algeria (2), Antarctica (1), Australia (27), Austria (3), Belarus (2), Bolivia (2), Brazil (42), Canada (46: Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec, Yukon), China (6), Colombia (1), the Czech Republic (6), France (5), Germany (15), Ghana (1), Libya (5), Mauritania (1), Morocco (4), New Zealand (3), Peru (1), Poland (24), South Africa (14), Spain (5), Tajikistan (2), Turkey (2), Ukraine (13), the United Kingdom (5), United States (125: Alaska, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennyslvania), Uruguay (1), Venezuela (2)
• Silurian to Devonian of Algeria (1), Argentina (1), China (1), Mauritania (1), Poland (1), Spain (1)
• Silurian of Algeria (1), Argentina (8), Australia (1), Belarus (1), Bolivia (1), Brazil (1), Canada (65: Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec), Estonia (1), France (1), Guinea (1), Ireland (2), Morocco (1), Norway (14), Paraguay (3), Peru (1), Poland (3), the Russian Federation (3), Spain (3), Sweden (28), the United Kingdom (20), United States (66: Alaska, California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia)
• Ordovician of Australia (1), Canada (4: Quebec), the Czech Republic (1), Estonia (1), Latvia (3), Norway (4), the United Kingdom (19), United States (63: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia)
• Canadian of United States (1: Virginia)
Total: 704 collections including 803 occurrences