Hyolitha

Hyoliths are an extinct group of invertebrates with small conical shells, known from fossils from the Palaeozoic era. They are at least considered lophotrochozoans, possibly being lophophorates, a group which includes the brachiopods (hyoliths may even be brachiopods themselves), while others consider them as being basal lophotrochozoans, or even molluscs.

thumb|Haplophrentis carinatus from the Stephen Formation, Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian), Burgess Pass, British Columbia, Canada. Haplophrentis is a genus of tiny shelled hyolithid which lived in the Cambrian Period. Its shell was long and conical, with the open end protected by an operculum, from which two fleshy arms called helens protruded at the sides. These arms served to elevate the opening of the shells above the sea floor, acting like stilts.