Urochordata
E15072
Urochordata, also known as tunicates or sea squirts, is a subphylum of mostly sessile marine animals whose larvae possess chordate features such as a notochord and dorsal nerve cord.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Urochordata canonical | 4 |
| Tunicata | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T111529 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Urochordata Context triple: [Chordata, includes, Urochordata]
-
A.
Cephalochordata
Cephalochordata is a subphylum of small, fish-like marine animals (such as lancelets) that retain a notochord throughout life and are important for understanding vertebrate evolution.
-
B.
Chordata
Chordata is a major animal phylum that includes all vertebrates and their closest invertebrate relatives, characterized by having a notochord at some stage of development.
-
C.
Echinodermata
Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates that includes starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, characterized by radial symmetry and a water vascular system.
-
D.
Vertebrata
Vertebrata is a major subphylum of chordates comprising animals with backbones or spinal columns, including fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
-
E.
Actinopterygii
Actinopterygii is the diverse class of ray-finned fishes that comprises the vast majority of modern fish species found in marine and freshwater environments.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Urochordata Target entity description: Urochordata, also known as tunicates or sea squirts, is a subphylum of mostly sessile marine animals whose larvae possess chordate features such as a notochord and dorsal nerve cord.
-
A.
Cephalochordata
Cephalochordata is a subphylum of small, fish-like marine animals (such as lancelets) that retain a notochord throughout life and are important for understanding vertebrate evolution.
-
B.
Chordata
Chordata is a major animal phylum that includes all vertebrates and their closest invertebrate relatives, characterized by having a notochord at some stage of development.
-
C.
Echinodermata
Echinodermata is a phylum of marine invertebrates that includes starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, characterized by radial symmetry and a water vascular system.
-
D.
Vertebrata
Vertebrata is a major subphylum of chordates comprising animals with backbones or spinal columns, including fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
-
E.
Actinopterygii
Actinopterygii is the diverse class of ray-finned fishes that comprises the vast majority of modern fish species found in marine and freshwater environments.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
subphylum
ⓘ
taxon ⓘ |
| adultDorsalNerveCord | absent ⓘ |
| adultNervousSystem | reduced compared to larva ⓘ |
| adultNotochord | absent ⓘ |
| bodySymmetry |
bilateral (larvae)
ⓘ
often secondarily asymmetrical (adults) ⓘ |
| celluloseComponent | tunicin ⓘ |
| circulatorySystem | open or hemal system ⓘ |
| commonName |
sea squirts
ⓘ
tunicates ⓘ |
| diet |
plankton
ⓘ
suspended organic particles ⓘ |
| distribution | worldwide oceans ⓘ |
| ecologicalRole |
contributors to marine snow
ⓘ
important filter feeders in marine ecosystems ⓘ |
| environment | marine ⓘ |
| evolutionarySignificance | closest invertebrate relatives of vertebrates in many analyses ⓘ |
| feedingType | filter feeder ⓘ |
| fertilization |
external in many species
ⓘ
internal in some species ⓘ |
| fossilRecord | known from at least the Cambrian period ⓘ |
| gasExchange | across pharyngeal basket ⓘ |
| habitat | benthic marine environments ⓘ |
| hasAdultFeature |
excurrent siphon
ⓘ
incurrent siphon ⓘ pharyngeal basket ⓘ tunic ⓘ |
| hasLarvalFeature |
dorsal nerve cord
ⓘ
notochord ⓘ pharyngeal slits ⓘ post-anal tail ⓘ |
| hasSynonym | Tunicata ⓘ |
| heartType | tubular heart that can reverse pumping direction ⓘ |
| includesClass |
Appendicularia
ⓘ
Thaliacea ⓘ
surface form:
Ascidiacea
Thaliacea ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| larvalMobility | motile ⓘ |
| larvalStage | tadpole-like larva ⓘ |
| metamorphosis | larva transforms into sessile adult in many species ⓘ |
| mobility | mostly sessile as adults ⓘ |
| outerCovering | cellulose-like tunic ⓘ |
| phylum | Chordata ⓘ |
| reproduction |
asexual budding in some groups
ⓘ
sexual ⓘ |
| researchUse | model organisms for chordate evolution ⓘ |
| scientificName | Urochordata self-link ⓘ |
| taxonomicRank | subphylum ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Urochordata Description of subject: Urochordata, also known as tunicates or sea squirts, is a subphylum of mostly sessile marine animals whose larvae possess chordate features such as a notochord and dorsal nerve cord.
Referenced by (5)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.