This paper presents a hypothesis on the phylogenetic relationships among currently known species in the genus
Trichobranchus, based on a cladistic analysis of the external morphological characters, and examines the consequences of such an analysis on the validity of
Filibranchus. Phylogenetic relationships of the group were studied using parsimony analysis of 14 (absent/present and multistate) coded morphological characters of 12 terminal taxa. Only one clade was identified, grouping
Trichobranchus and
Filibranchus. Thus,
Filibranchus is considered a junior synonym of
Trichobranchus and classification modified to reflect the phylogeny.