The
Ectoprocta are a phylum of
lophophorate animals. They are also called the
Bryozoa (moss animals), but this term is sometimes taken to include the
Entoprocta and sometimes even the
Cycliophora, which are not necessarily closely related. The Ectoprocta are one of the few classical phyla from which no members have been found in the
Cambrian. They seem to have evolved in the
Ordovician.