Arthropod

Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda) are the largest phylum of Animals, including the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and other similar creatures. Over four out of five animal species are arthropods, with over a million modern species and a fossil record reaching back to the early Cambrian. They are common throughout marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and even aerial environments, as well as including various symbiotic and parasitic forms, and range in size from microscopic plankton (~.25 mm) up to forms several metres long.

The success of the arthropods is related to their hard exoskeletons, segementations, and jointed appendages. The appendages are used for feeding, sensory reception, defense, and of course for walking.

Arthropods respire (breathe) through the diffusion of respiratory gases, although it might seem difficult due to having an exoskeleton. The insects have tracheal systes, air sacs leading into the body from pores in the cuticle. Aquatic arthropods use gills to exchange gases. These gills are specialized with an extensive surface area in contact with the surrounding water. Terrestrial arthropods have internal surfaces that are specialized for gas exchange.

Arthropods have an open circulatory system, hemolymph is propelled by a heart through short arteries and then into sinuses. Hemolymph reenters the heart through pores.

Arthropods are protostomes. There is a coelom, but it is reduced to a tiny cavity around the reproductive and excretory organs, and the dominant body cavity is a hemocoel, filled with hemolymph which bathes the organs directly. The arthropod body is divided into a series of distinct segments, plus a presegmental acron which usually supports compound and simple eyes and a postsegmental telson. These are grouped into distinct, specialized body regions called tagmata. Each segment at least primitively supports a pair of appendages.

The cuticle in arthropods forms a rigid exoskeleton, composed mainly of chitin, which is periodically shed as the animal grows. The exoskeleton takes the form of plates called sclerites on the segments, plus rings on the appendages that divide them into segments separated by joints. This is in fact what gives arthropods their name - joint feet - and separates them from their very close relatives, the Onychophora and Tardigrada. The skeletons of arthropods strenghten them against attack by predators and are impermeable to water. In order to grow, an arthropod must shed its old exoskeleton and secrete a new one. This process, molting, is expensive in energy consumption. During the molting period, an arthropod is vunerable. At one point it was considered that the different subphyla of arthropods had separate origins from segmented worms, and in particular that the Uniramia were closer to the Onychophora then to other arthropods. However, this is rejected by most workers, and is contradicted by genetic studies.

Traditionally the Annelida have been considered the closest relatives of these three phyla, on account of their common segmentation. More recently, however, this has been considered convergent evolution, and the arthropods and allies may be closer related to certain pseudocoelomates such as roundworms that share with them growth by molting, or ecdysis. These two possible lineages have been termed the Articulata and Ecdysozoa.

The classification of the arthropods varies somewhat from source to source. There are five main subgroups: the Trilobita, Chelicerata, Myriapoda, Hexapoda, and Crustacea, which may be variously ranked from subphyla to classes, with various other taxa introduced above or below them and corresponding changes in the ranks of their subgroups. Here we have followed a "splitting" taxonomy, containing only generally accepted groups and assigning them higher ranks.

Aside from these major groups, there are also a number of fossil forms, mostly from the lower Cambrian, which are difficult to place, either from lack of obvious affinity to any of the main groups or from clear affinity to several of them.

References
http://www.itis.usda.gov
TSN: 82696
http://www.peripatus.gen.nz/Taxa/Arthropoda/Index.html Campbell, Reece and Mitchell. Biology. 1999