Evolution of Early Metazoa: Phylogenetic Status of the Hexactinellida Within the Phylum of Porifera (Sponges)

The evolution of the Metazoa from their protozoan ancestors is one of the greatest puzzles of phylogeny (Willmer 1994; Cavalier-Smith et al. 1996). The emergence of multicellular animals has been explained by two major theories: the syncytial theory (Hadzi 1963) - origin from a multinucleated ciliate - and the colonial theory (Haeckel 1868) - origin from a colonial flagellate - both of which assume a di(poly)phyletic origin of the Metazoa. Numerous attempts to resolve whether the Metazoa are of mono- or polyphyletic origin have sought evidence from a wide variety of developmental and morphological data such as body symmetry, type of development (protostome vs. deuterostome), type of body ca…