Editing Vertebrate (section)

=== Taxonomic history ===

In 1811, [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck]] defined the vertebrates as a taxonomic group,<ref name="Nielsen2012"/> a [[phylum]] distinct from the [[invertebrate]]s he was studying.<ref name="Irie 2018"/> He described them as consisting of four classes, namely fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals,<ref>{{cite web |last=Blitz |first=David |author-link=David Blitz |title=Lamarck and Species Evolution |url=https://bertie.ccsu.edu/naturesci/evolution/unit10background/Lamarck.html |publisher=Central Connecticut State University |access-date=7 December 2024}}</ref> but treated the [[cephalochordate]]s and [[tunicate]]s as [[Mollusca|mollusc]]s.<ref name="Irie 2018"/> In 1866, [[Ernst Haeckel]] called both his "Craniata" (vertebrates) and his "Acrania" (cephalochordates) "Vertebrata".<ref name="Irie 2018"/> In 1877, [[Ray Lankester]] grouped the Craniates, cephalochordates, and "Urochordates (tunicates) as "Vertebrata".<ref name="Irie 2018"/> In 1880–1881, [[Francis Maitland Balfour]] placed the Vertebrata as a subphylum within the Chordates.<ref name="Irie 2018"/> In 2018, Naoki Irie and colleagues proposed making Vertebrata a full phylum.<ref name="Irie 2018"/>