“…However, using alternative methodologies and datasets, Philippe and collaborators proposed (Philippe et al, 2007;Philippe et al, 2011) that Acoela could instead be a deuterostomian group, with affinities to the Ambulacraria (Echinoderms and Hemichordates). Those authors suggested that Acoelomorpha sit within the Ambulacraria, grouped with another taxon, the Xenoturbellida, and thus erected a new monophyletic group, the Xenacoelomorpha, a classification also supported by some morphological data (Tyler and Rieger, 1975;Tyler and Rieger, 1977;Ehlers, 1985;Smith et al, 1986;Lundin and Hendelberg, 1996;Lundin, 1997;Lundin, 2000;Lundin and Sterrer, 2001). Now, these alternative views, one placing the Acoelomorpha as basal bilaterians and the other placing them within the Deuterostomia, continue to provoke debate.…”