We explain what arthropods are and how this group of invertebrates is classified. In addition, its main features and examples.
It is known as arthropods to an evolutionary set (or phylum ) of invertebrate animals of complex organization, provided with an external skeleton, segmented bodies and articulated legs (hence its name: from the Greek arthron , “articulation” and poús , “foot”) . These are the most numerous animals on the planet, adapted to any type of environment that exists, that is, they are the animals with the greatest evolutionary success that exist.
One of the main characteristics of arthropods is the segmentation of their legs and their body, joined through joints that allow precise and rapid movements . From there, different forms of articulated appendages arose, such as antennas, pincers, chelceres, etc.
The edge of arthropods appeared on the earth about 570 million years ago , and due to their morphological relationship with annelids (worms and worms), it is assumed that they would have evolved from them. Strong evidence of this could be the larval stage (in the form of caterpillars and larvae) that have many arthropods.
There are currently more than 1,200,000 species of arthropods approximately , which represents 80% of the animal species known. Incidentally, of the arthropod classes, insects are the most numerous.
Arthropods are classified into four large sets or classes:
A typical feature of arthropods is that their body is successively segmented in a manner similar to that of annelids. In addition, they have well differentiated sections that usually respect the following order: head, thorax and abdomen, apart from their limbs or appendages.
Their bodies are also protected from their rivals or predators by a skeleton articulated and formed by chitin (a carbohydrate), which is located outside the body (exoskeleton) and covers it.
This is a problem for the animal when it comes to growing, so that the skeleton must be changed in several successive stages throughout its life . This allows the development of a new skeleton, adapted to the larger dimensions of the animal. This process is called ecdisis or molt .
On the other hand, arthropods reproduce sexually and their sexes are usually well differentiated . When fertilized, the female lays eggs from which the offspring will emerge, whose development can be direct or indirect, depending on the species:
Some simple examples of arthropods are:
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