语源

腕足动物的学名 brachiopod 源于古希腊语，由“手臂”（ βραχίων ）与“足”（ πούς ）两部分组成 。

特征

介壳两枚，大小相等或不等，掩盖背腹两面；介壳的形状和饰纹以及内部器官的构造，是鉴定腕足纲属、种的依据；身体柔软、左右对称；头顶有突出部；上生许多触手，称为“腕足”；消化道呈U字形弯曲，常缺少肛门；具有体腔和后肾。

分类

  在西班牙穆尔西亚塞埃欣的早白垩世豪特里维期地层出土的 Pygites diphyoides (d"Orbigny, 1849)化石。这件穿孔贝目化石的特色是其壳上位于中央的孔洞。

腕足动物的分类 有其独特的不同之处：现时腕足动物的现存物种与化石物种有着不同的特色。其化石物种的外形变化很大，但其外壳只有少量特征；而现存物种的外壳变化不大，反而其软件及外壳均各有特征。若我们只专注于其中一类特征，均不能把另一类好好的分类。本门动物也经历了显著的趋同进化和逆转演化（这使较新的组别损失了原来在中间组别出现的特色，又或回复了原来只在较旧的组别出现的特点）。因此，有些分类学的学者认为现时我们仍然未成熟到可以具体把目以上的分类确定，建议只适宜透过自底向上的方法，先确定物种的种属，然后再把他们分成组 。不过，亦有学者不同意这个观点，认为现时的 然而，其他分类学家相信，物种中某些模式的特点已足够稳定，值得作更高级别的分类，尽管大家可能对更高级别的分类有不同的看法 。以下为现时较多人同意的分类法。

目

以下为腕足动物门以下的目：

舌形贝型亚门

髑髅贝型亚门

小嘴贝型亚门

未知分类

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延伸阅读

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