Pywackia is a contentious Cambrian fossil that has been interpreted as the earliest (total group) Bryozoan, and the only representative of that phylum in the Cambrian period.Its Bryozoan credentials have been called into question, but the octocoral alternative is equally unconvincing, and there are reasons to suggest a position in the Stenolaemata stem lineage.
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0