A former taxonomic group of mollusks that supposedly had both gills and lungs, now considered invalid classification.
From Greek 'branchia' (gill) + Latin 'pulmo' (lung) + '-ata' (plural suffix). 19th-century malacologists created this category for gastropods before understanding lung evolution better.
Branchiopulmonata was a real scientific classification that turned out to be wrong—organisms classified here had different actual breathing systems, showing how evolution confused early naturalists.
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