The Chitonidae and the Aplacophora are now separated from the Gastropoda and raised to the rank of a distinct class, under the name of Amphineura.
Among the Amphineura we find one pair of coelomic ducts in the Aplacophora, two pairs in the Chitons.
The order Aplacophora is divided into two suborders.
According to Paul Pelseneer the Polyplacophora are the most archaic, the Aplacophora being specialized in (1) the great reduction of the foot, (2) the disappearance of the shell (Cryptoplax among the Polyplacophora showing both reductions in progress), (3) the disappearance of the radula.
And although embryology seems to prove that the Neomeniomorphs are derived from forms with a series of shell-valves, nevertheless it seems probable that the calcareous spicules which alone are present in adult Aplacophora preceded the solid shell in evolution.