Cambrian explosion
The application of the stem group concept also influenced the interpretation of the organisms of the Burgess shale. Their classification in stem groups to extant phyla, rather than in phyla of their own, is thought by some to make the Cambrian explosion easier to understand without invoking unusual evolutionary mechanisms; however, application of the stem group concept does nothing to ameliorate the difficulties that phylogenetic telescoping poses to evolutionary theorists attempting to understand both macroevolutionary change and the abrupt character of the Cambrian explosion. Overemphasis on the stem group concept threatens to delay or obscure proper recognition of new higher taxa.