The Brachiozoa is a clade consisting of two phyla, phoronids and brachiopods. Some molecular studies show that phoronids are an ingroup of the brachiopods, although this seems unlikely based on embryology. Although the Bryozoa was united for a century with the two phyla in the Tentaculata or Lophophorata, no convincing synapomorphies exist between bryozoans and brachiozoans. Molecular phylogenetic studies do not support the sister-group relationship between Brachiozoa and Bryozoa. The presence of the spiralian Hox signature in a brachiopod points to the position of brachiozoans as spiralians. A number of recent molecular studies revealed a spiralian clade of Brachiozoa and Nemertini, called Kryptrochozoa, although the morphological implications have generally not been taken into account.