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Historical Geology Notes
Important Fossil Animal Groups

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Porifera (sponges)

Phylum Cnidaria (corals, anemones, jellyfish, hydra)
  Class Anthozoa (corals and anemones)
    Subclass Rugosa (Paleozoic solitary horn corals)
    Subclass Tabulata (Paleozoic colonial corals)
    Subclass Zoantharia (modern corals)

Phylum Bryozoa (tiny colonial coral-like animals, but anatomically more complex than coral)

Phylum Brachiopoda (dominant bivalve of the Paleozoic)

Phylum Arthropoda
 Subphylum Trilobita (alternatively, Class Trilobita)
 Subphylum Crustacea (shrimp, crabs, lobsters)
 Subphylum Chelicerata (horseshoe crabs, eurypterids, arachnids [spiders])
 Subphylum Labiata (insects, centipedes, milipedes)

Phylum Mollusca
  Class Gastropoda (snails)
  Class Pelecypoda (mollusk bivalves)
  Class Cephalopoda (nautiloids, ammonoids, squid, octopus, cuttlefish)

Phylum Echinodermata
  stalked echinoderms (classes cystoidea, blastoidea, and crinoidea)
  Class Asteroidea (starfish)
  Class Echinoidea (sea biscuits, sand dollars, sea urchins)

Phylum Chordata
 Subphylum Vertebrata
  Fishes
    cartilaginous fish
      Class Agnatha (jawless fishes, living lampreys and hagfish)
      Class Acanthodii (fast-swimming primitive fish) extinct
      Class Placodermi (primitive armor-plated fish) extinct
      Class Chondrichthyes (sharks and rays)
   bony fish
     Class Osteichthyes
       ray fins
       lob-fins

   Class Amphibia(frogs and salamanders)

   Class Reptilia
     Subclass Anapsida (turtles, and extinct mesosaurs and cotylosaurs)
     Subclass Euryapsida (extinct mostly marine, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs)
     Subclass Diapsida (dinosaurs, crocodilians, lizards, snakes)
     Subclass Synapsida (extinct mammal-like reptiles; sailback types, therapsids)

   Class Mammalia
     marsupials (pouched mammals; kangaroos, etc.)
     placental mammals (shrews, bats, primates, rodents, whales, carnivores, antelopes, etc.)

   Class Aves (birds)