Eccentrotheca Temporal range: Early Cambrian |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Superphylum: | Lophotrochozoa |
informal group: | Lophophorata |
Paraphyletic group: | †"Tommitiida" |
Genus: | †Eccentrotheca Landing, Nowlan & Fletcher, 1980 |
Eccentrotheca is a genus of sclerite-bearing marine organism known from Cambrian deposits. Its sclerite form rings that are stacked to produce a widening-upwards conical scleritome.[1] Individual plates have been homologized with the valves of brachiopods, and a relationship with the phoronids is also likely at a stem-group level.[1] Its pointed end terminated in a stub that probably fastened it to a hard sea floor; its open end has been interpreted as a filter-feeding aperture.[1]