Arthropods

Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda. It includes insects, crustaceans, arachnids, centipedes, and millipedes.

Examples
From ants, spiders, cockroaches, caterpillars, butterflies to moths, crabs, shrimp, crayfish to centipedes and millipedes. Arthropoda is a large phylum. They span over the entire world, and exist on land, and on water. The classes are Insecta, Arachnida, Crustacea

Physical Characteristics
Segmented coelomate, bilateral symmetry, an exoskeleton and jointed structures called appendage. An appendage is a structure that grows out of the body of an animal. They can be used for walking sensing feeding and mating. They include animals such as insects, crabs, centipedes and spiders.

These are the basic characteristics of Arthropods. All arthropods from centipedes to crabs all show these characteristics.

Arthropods have bilateral symmetry, they have one plane of symmetry, being equal on each side. Arthropods also have gone through cephalization.

Reproduction
Arthropods reproduce sexually, which means there is an exchange of genetic material. They have male and female sexes that come together to fertilize an egg. Arthropodic reproduction is extremely like humans.

This is a picture of a spider and its babies, still in their cocoon. Spiders produce many children at one time.

Respiration:
They have efficient respiratory structures that ensure rapid oxygen delivery to cells. There are three types of respiratory structures: gills, tracheal tubes, and book lungs. Most have tracheal tubes, which are hollow passages that carry air throughout the body. Arachnids generally have book lungs, which are air filled chambers in the organism. Most aquatic arthropods have gills.

Arthropods have a very extensive respiratory system. while we only have two lungs and one trachea, arthropods have many multiple air sacs, and a large system of tracheae. Aquatic arthropods have gills on their external epidermis (skin). They look like raised bumps.

Feeding
Arthropods can include herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. There are bloodsuckers filter feeders and parasites. There mouthparts have evolved in such a way that allows them to eat close to nearly any food imaginable. Their mouthparts range from pincers to fangs to jaws that can cut through tissue of captured prey.

This is an example of an arthropod eating. All arthropods are heterotrophic, as they are animals.

Circulation:
Arthropods generally have a well developed circulatory system. A heart pumps blood through arteries that branch and enter tissues. Blood leaves the blood vessels and moves through cavities. The blood then collects in a large cavity around the heart. From there it reenters the heart and is pumped around the rest of the body.

This is a comparison of the circulatory system between Arthropods and Nematodes. As you can see the arthropod has an open circulation, meaning that blood is pumped openly into cavities where it then diffuses back to the heart.

Excretion:
Most arthropods dispose of wastes using Malpighian tubules. Which are saclike organs that extract wastes from the blood and then add them to digestive wastes that move through the gut. In aquatic arthropods diffusion moves cellular wastes from the arthropods body into surrounding water.

This is an example of arthropodic excretory systems. You can see we have somethings in common with arthropods, but we are still very different. You can also see evidence of a coelem on the picture.

Range:
The arthropods range exists across the entire world. Arthropods can live on both water and land. Because of the quantity of the phylum and it's large variation between species, arthropods have been able to spread to all areas on earth excluding the deep ocean.

Importance to the World:

Arthropods are important in the world because they provide an important part to the food chain and the reproduction of other organisms. The insects in the phylum help flowers to participate in cross-pollination. This helps germinate our food that we eat. Many types of crustaceans are eaten by the human population, including crabs, shrimp, and crayfish. Since arthropods are in the middle of the food chain, many other animals depend on them for survival.

This is an example of a human (and yummy) use of arthropods.

Arthropods are extremely variable creatures even within their own class and family.

Fun Facts:

Ancestral arthropods were the first land animals. Arthropods are a highly successful group of animalsthey account for over three quarters of all currently known living and fossil organisms. They comprise over 90% of the animal kingdom.

http://animals.about.com/od/arthropods/a/tenfactsarthropods.htm http://www.reference.com/motif/science/fun-facts-about-arthropods