The Articulata hypothesis originates from the phylogenetic analyses of Georges Cuvier in his 1817 published work Le Règne animal, distribué après son organization.

From these ground-plans, Cuvier separated the known animal kingdom into four branches or embranchements: Vertebrata, Articulata, Mollusca and Radiata.

Cuvier grouped these diverse phyla together according to the common structural feature: the segmented body plan.

Advances in confocal microscopy technology led to the discovery of embryonic cleavage patterns, which differs between the annelids and arthropods.

[4][6] The advancements in DNA sequencing techniques and the development of phylogenetic analysis algorithms led to the splitting of the Articulata clade.