Topic summary
Lobopodian
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Lobopodia.
Stem-group tardigrades
Lobopodian taxa of the tardigrade stem-group is unclear. Aysheaia or Onychodictyon ferox had been suggest to be a possible member, based on the high claw number (in Aysheaia) and/or terminal lobopods with anterior-facing claws (in both taxa). Although not widely accepted, there are even suggestions that Tardigrada itself representing the basalmost panarthropod or branch between the arthropod stem-group. However, papers from 2023 and 2025 found luolishaniids to be the closest relatives of tardigrades using various morphological characteristics.