The most recently discovered phylum in the animal kingdom (1995) is the phylum Cycliophora. It includes three species of tiny organisms that live in large numbers on the outsides of the mouthparts and appendages of lobsters. The feeding stage permanently attaches to the lobster via an adhesive disk, and collects scraps of food from its host's feeding by capturing the scraps in a current created by a ring of cilia. The body is sac-like and has a U-shaped intestine that brings the anus close to the mouth. Cycliophorans are eucoelomate, do not molt (though their host does), and their embryos undergo spiral cleavage.
-Using similarities in embryonic development, body symmetry, and other anatomical features to assign an organism to a clade involves
1)cladistics based on body plan.
2)molecular-based phylogeny.
3)morphology-based phylogeny.