original description
Blumrich J. (1891). Das Integument der Chitonen. <i>Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie</i> 52, 404– 476 , plates 23–30 [foreword by B. Hatscheck]. [details]
basis of record
Stasek C., 1972. The molluscan framework. In: Florkin, M., Scheer, B.T. (Eds.), Chemical Zoology, vol. 7, pp. 1–44. [details]
additional source
Glaubrecht, G., Maitas, L. & Salvini-Plawen L.v. (2005) Aplacophoran Mollusca in the Natural History Museum Berlin. An annotated catalogue of Thiele's type specimens, with a brief review of "Aplacophora". Mitteilungen aus der Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin – Zoologische Reihe 81, 145-166., available online at http://download.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/matthias.glaubrecht/Glaubrecht%20et%20al%202005.pdf [details]
additional source
Scheltema, Amélie H. 1993. Aplacophora as progenetic aculiferans and the coelomate origin of mollusks as the sister taxon of Sipuncula. <i>Biological Bulletin</i>, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 184(1): 57-78., available online at http://www.biolbull.org/cgi/reprint/184/1/57.pdf [details]
additional source
Runnegar B. & Pojeta, J. 1974 Molluscan phylogeny: the paleontological viewpoint. <i>Science</i> 186 (4161): pp.311-317 [details] Available for editors [request]
From editor or global species database
Classification Aculifera is a group, with rank of subphylum, including the Aplacophora (Caudofoveata and Solenogastres) and Polyplacophora (chitons), all other molluscs being included in subphylum Conchifera (shell-bearers)(Hatscheck in Blumrich, 1891; Scheltema, 1993) or alternately including only the Aplacophora, aside with the subphyla Placophora and Conchifera (Stasek, 1972).
The data at hand (see Haszprunar 2000: American Malacological Bulletin 15, 115-130, and Glaubrecht, Maitas & Salvini-Plawen, 2005: Mitteilungen aus der Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin – Zoologische Reihe 81, 145-166) would support a phylogenetic relationship like (Solenogastres(Caudofoveata(Polyplacophora(Conchifera)))) making Aplacophora (and therefore Aculifera) paraphyletic.
Because groupings of molluscan classes into clades is highly controversial (for a review of competing hypothesis see Steiner & Dreyer (2003) Molecular phylogeny of Scaphopoda (Mollusca) inferred from 18S rDNA sequences: support for a Scaphopoda–Cephalopoda clade. — Zoologica Scripta, 32, 343–356), classes will be treated herein as an unresolved polytomy within Phylum Mollusca. [details]