Animal Diversity

ANIMAL EVOLUTION AND DIVERSITY

What is an animal?
• Animals are eukaryotic, multicellular
heterotrophs that ingest their food

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Key

• Other distinctive animal features Haploid (n)

Diploid (2n) Sperm

– Cells have structural proteins and Egg

intercellular junctions cell walls rather

Meiosis
Zygote
(fertilized egg)

than cell walls

Eight-cell stage
Adult

– Muscle cells produce movement Metamorphosis

Blastula

– Nerve cells conduct impulses

(cross section)
Digestive tract

Ectoderm

– Most are diploid and reproduce sexually Larva

Early gastrula

• Eggs and sperm are the only haploid Endoderm

Future
(cross section)

cells Internal sac Later gastrula mesoderm

(cross section)

Animal life cycle

6. Sac formed by gastrulation has
endoderm, ectoderm, and often
1. Male and female adults make haploid mesoderm cell layers
gametes by meiosis
7. After the later gastrula stage, some
2. Egg and sperm fuse, forming a zygote animals develop into a larva
3. Zygote divides by mitosis 8. Larva undergoes metamorphosis or
gastrula develops directly into a sexually
4. Early embryonic stage is a blastula
mature adult
5. Blastula folds inward, forming a gastrula

Animals can be characterized by basic features of

their “body plan”
• Animal body plans may vary in symmetry
– Radial symmetry: body parts radiate from
the center
• Most animals are invertebrates
– Bilateral symmetry
– Lack a vertebral column
– Mirror-image right and left sides
– Anterior and posterior ends
– Dorsal and ventral surfaces

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• Body plans also vary in organization of tissues

– Cooperative collections of cells that perform a
Top Dorsal surface specialized function

Anterior
– Formed during the embryonic stages from
end
endoderm, ectoderm, or mesoderm
Posterior
end
• A body cavity may or may not be present in animals
with all three tissue layers
Ventral surface
– Fluid-filled space between digestive tract and
body wall
Bottom

– In soft-bodied animals forms a hydrostatic

skeleton

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– Types of body cavities Tissue-filled region

(from mesoderm)
Body covering

• Pseudocoelom not completely lined

(from ectoderm)

with mesoderm
• True coelom completely lined with
mesoderm Digestive sac
(from endoderm)

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Body covering Body covering

(from ectoderm) (from ectoderm)

Coelom

Muscle layer
(from mesoderm)

Tissue layer
lining coelom
Digestive tract and suspending
(from endoderm) internal organs
(from mesoderm)
Digestive tract
Pseudocoelom (from endoderm)

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 • Animals with three tissue layers can be The body plans of animals can be used to build
classified based on details of embryonic phylogenetic trees
development • One hypothesis of animal phylogeny is based on
morphological comparisons
– Protostomes: Opening of digestive tract
becomes the mouth – First branch point separates sponges from
those with true tissues (eumetazoans)
– Deuterostomes: Opening becomes the
– Next branch point separates radial from
anus; mouth forms during a second
bilateral symmetry
opening
– Bilaterians separated into protostomes and
deuterostomes

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INVERTEBRATES
Sponges have a relatively simple, porous body
Cnidarians

Nematodes
Arthropods
Sponges

Annelids
Echinoderms

Chordates

Molluscs
Flatworms

• Sponges, phylum Porifera, have no true

tissues
– Resemble a thick-walled sac perforated
with holes through which water enters
and leaves
Deuterostomes Protostomes

– Two layers of cells

Bilaterians
Radial symmetry
Bilateral symmetry

• Choanocytes
Eumetazoans
No true tissues True tissues

• Amoebocytes
Ancestral
colonial protist

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Pores

• Sponges are the simplest of all animals

– Sessile
Choanocyte
Amoebocyte

Water
– Suspension feeders
Skeletal
fiber flow
• Flagellated choanocytes filter food
Central from the water passing through the
cavity
Flagella porous body
Choanocyte • The majority of sponges are marine; some
in contact
with an are found in freshwater
amoebocyte

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Cnidarians are radial animals with tentacles and
stinging cells
• Cnidarians, phylum Cnidaria, have true
tissues and radial symmetry
• Cnidarians exhibit one or both of two kinds of
radially symmetrical body forms
– Polyps, such as hydra

– Medusae, the jellies

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 • Cnidarians are carnivores
– Use tentacles to capture prey and push it
into the mouth
– Have a gastrovascular cavity
• Mouth is the only opening
• Circulates fluid that serves internal
cells
• Cnidocytes are stinging cells on tentacles
– Function in defense and capturing prey

Flatworms are the simplest bilateral animals

• Flatworms, phylum Platyhelminthes, are thin,
often ribbonlike, animals
– Gastrovascular cavity with only one
opening
– Marine, freshwater, and damp terrestrial
habitat forms
– Free-living and parasitic forms

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Gastrovascular Nerve cords
cavity
• Free-living flatworms (example: planarian)
– Simple nervous system
– Highly branched gastrovascular system
– Cilia on ventral surface used to crawl Mouth

• Flukes (example: blood flukes)

– Parasites in other animals Eyespots

– Suckers that attach to host Nervous

tissue
clusters
– Complex life cycles with larvae developing in
intermediate host Bilateral symmetry

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• Tapeworms
– Long, ribbonlike body with repeated units
containing reproductive structures
– No digestive tract; absorb food across Units with
reproductive
body surface structures

– Parasitic on vertebrates, including

humans; live in partially digested food in
intestine of host Scolex
Hooks

Colorized SEM 80×

(anterior
– Complex life cycle usually involving
Sucker
end)

more than one host

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Nematodes have a pseudocoelom and a complete

digestive tract
• Nematodes (roundworms) make up the phylum
Nematoda
– Have a pseudocoelom and a complete
digestive tract
– Are covered by a protective cuticle
– Are numerous, diverse, and found in most
environments
• Many are free living; others are plant or animal Mouth
parasites

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Muscle tissue Trichinella juvenile

• Caenorhabditis elegans, a free-living

nematode, is an important organism for
genetic research
– The complete genomic sequence has
been determined
• Trichinosis is a disease caused by the
nematode Trichinella spiralis
– Humans can get this parasite by eating
raw pork
LM 350 ×

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Diverse molluscs are variations on a common body plan

Visceral mass

• Molluscs have bilateral symmetry, a complete Coelom Reproductive

digestive tract, a coelom, a circulatory system, and Kidney
Heart
organs

generally separate sexes

Digestive
Mantle tract
Shell
Digestive tract
• General body plan of a mollusc Mantle
cavity
Radula Radula

– Muscular foot Anus Mouth

Gill
– Visceral mass containing most internal organs Mouth

– Mantle Foot Nerve

cords

– Rasping radula in many

• Gastropods (“belly foot”) are the largest

group of molluscs
– Snails and slugs
– Live in freshwater, saltwater, and
terrestrial environments

– Most are protected by a single spiraled

shell

– Many have a distinct head with eyes at

tips of tentacles
Video: Nudibranchs

• Bivalves have shells divided into two halves

hinged together
– Many species of clams, oysters, mussels,
and scallops
– Most are suspension feeders
– Mantle cavity includes gills used for
feeding and gas exchange
– Most are sedentary

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 • Cephalopods (“head foot”) are adapted to be fast,
agile predators
– Include squids and octopuses
– Except for chambered nautilus, shell is small
and internal or missing
– Mouth is at base of foot
– Use beak-like jaws and radula to rip prey
– All have large brains and sophisticated sense
organs
– Giant squid is largest of all invertebrates

Annelids are segmented worms • Earthworms and their relatives

• A segmented body resembling a series of fused – Eat their way through soil, aerating and
rings is the hallmark of phylum Annelida
fertilizing it as they go
– Probably evolved as an adaptation facilitating
movement – Segments are clearly visible from outside

– Allows for flexibility, mobility, burrowing • Each surrounded by longitudinal and

circular muscles
• Annelids range from less than 1 mm to 3 m in length
– Nervous, circulatory, and excretory systems
• Annelids are found in damp soil, the sea, most
freshwater habitats have repeating, mostly identical parts in each
segment
– Most are bottom-dwelling scavengers
– Are hermaphrodites

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Anus Epidermis
Circular Segment wall • Polychaetes
muscle (partition
between

– Form the largest group of annelids

Segment segments)
wall

Longitudinal
muscle

Mucus-secreting
organ
Dorsal
vessel
Excretory
organ – Characterized by having segments with
Bristles
Intestine

Bristles
broad, paddle-like appendages and
Dorsal
Nerve cord
Excretory
Ventral vessel bristles
Digestive
vessel Coelom organ
tract
Brain

– Most are marine

Segment
wall

Blood vessels

– Search for prey on the seafloor or live in

Mouth Nerve cord
Pumping segmental vessels Giant
Australian
earthworm
tubes and trap food particles in feathery
appendages

• Leeches
– Mostly freshwater inhabitants; some marine
and terrestrial species
– Most are free-living carnivores, but some are
bloodsucking parasites on vertebrates
– A blood-sucking leech cuts the skin with razor-
sharp jaws and secretes an anesthetic and an
anticoagulant
– Used medically to remove blood from bruises
or relieve swelling when appendages are
reattached

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Cephalothorax Abdomen

Arthropods are segmented animals with jointed

appendages and an exoskeleton
Head Thorax
• Various adaptations have made arthropods the most Antennae
successful animals on Earth (sensory
reception)
– Jointed appendages adapted for different
functions
Swimming
– Exoskeleton: external skeleton that protects appendages
and provides attachment points for muscles
– Distinct groups of segments: head, thorax,
abdomen
– Open circulatory system Walking legs

Pincer (defense) Mouthparts (feeding)

• Chelicerates
– Horseshoe crabs
– Arachnids, such as spiders, scorpions,
mites, and ticks
– Most live on land and are carnivores
• Millipedes and centipedes
– Have similar segments over most of body
– Segments bear two pairs (millipedes) or
one pair (centipedes) of legs

• Crustaceans
– Nearly all are aquatic
– Include lobsters, crabs, shrimps,
barnacles, small copepods, and krill

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 Insects are the most diverse group of organisms
• Insects have a number of common features
– Three-part body consisting of head, thorax,
and abdomen

• Head usually has antennae and eyes

– Mouthparts specialized for particular kinds of
eating
– Three sets of legs
– One or two pairs of wings (most, but not all)

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• Many insects undergo metamorphosis in

Head Thorax Abdomen their development
– Incomplete: Young resemble adults but
Antenna
Forewing
are smaller with different proportions
– Complete: Larval stages specialized for
Eye
eating, look very different from adults
specialized for dispersal and
Mouthparts
Hindwing
reproduction

• The total number of insect species is greater

than the total of all other species combined

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 – Lepidoptera: Moths and butterflies
– Diptera: Flies, including fruit flies,
houseflies, gnats, mosquitoes
– Hymenoptera: Ants, bees, wasps

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Haltere

Echinoderms have spiny skin, an endoskeleton,

and a water vascular system for movement
• Echinoderms, phylum Echinodermata, are
slow-moving or sessile marine animals
– Include organisms such as sea stars,
sand dollars, and sea urchins
– Adults are radially symmetrical
– External bumps or spines are extension
of hard endoskeleton

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• The water vascular system is unique to Anus

echinoderms
Spines

– Network of water-filled canals that

branch into tube feet
– Suction cup–like tube feet used for Stomach

feeding, gas exchange, and locomotion

• Embryonic features such as bilateral Tube feet
symmetry places echinoderms on the same
clade as chordates Canals

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Tube foot

Spine
Tube foot

Phylum Chordata, is distinguished by four • The simplest chordates are tunicates and
features lancelets
• Four distinctive features appear in the – Marine invertebrates that use
embryos, and often in the adults, of pharyngeal slits for suspension feeding
chordates, phylum Chordata:
– Tunicates: small, saclike; adhere to rocks
– A dorsal, hollow nerve cord and reefs; likely represent the deepest
– A stiff notochord branch of the chordate lineage

– Pharyngeal slits – Lancelets: small, bladelike; live in marine

sands; closest living relatives of the
– A muscular post-anal tail vertebrates

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Excurrent
siphon
Post-anal tail

Dorsal, hollow
nerve cord Head
Notochord
Mouth
Pharyngeal
slits

Mouth
Pharynx
Dorsal,
Pharyngeal hollow
Muscle slits
segments nerve cord
Digestive tract

Notochord Water exit

Segmental Post-anal
Adult muscles tail
(about 3 cm high) Larva Anus

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VERTEBRATES Chordates
Craniates
Vertebrates
Jawed vertebrates

Derived characters define the major clades of chordates

Tetrapods
Amniotes

• Main branch points of the chordate phylogeny include

Ray-finned fishes
Sharks, rays

Mammals
Lobe-fins
Lampreys
Lancelets

Hagfishes

Amphibians
Tunicates

Reptiles
Milk

– Brain (all chordates except tunicates)

Amniotic egg

– Head (craniates) Legs

– Vertebral column (vertebrates) Lobed fins

Lungs or lung derivatives

– Jaws (jawed vertebrates)

Jaws

– Legs (tetrapods) Vertebral column

– Amniotic egg (amniotes) Head

Brain

Ancestral chordate

Lampreys are vertebrates that lack hinged jaws

• Lampreys represent the oldest living lineage of
vertebrates
– Suspension feeders in freshwater streams
– Have jawless mouth with rasping tongue
• The vast majority of living vertebrates have
two-part jaws connected by a hinge

• Jaws likely evolved from anterior

pharyngeal slits

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Jawed vertebrates with gills and paired fins include sharks, ray-
finned fishes, and lobe-fins
• Three lineages of jawed vertebrates with gills and paired
fins are commonly called fishes
Skull
Gill Skeletal
slits rods • Chondrichthyans have changed little in 300 million years
– Include sharks and rays
– Flexible skeleton made of cartilage
Mouth – Lateral line system of sensory organs

• The ray-finned fishes include familiar fishes

such as tuna, trout, and goldfish
– Skeleton reinforced with a hard matrix of
calcium phosphate
– Operculi that move water over the gills
– Buoyant swim bladder

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Bony skeleton
Dorsal fin
Gills

Operculum Anal fin

Pectoral fin Swim bladder

Heart Pelvic fin

Rainbow trout,
a ray-fin

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Amphibians were the first tetrapods—vertebrates

with two pairs of limbs
• Amphibians were the first tetrapods with
limbs allowing movement on land Bones
supporting
gills
– Include salamanders, frogs, and
caecilians

Tetrapod
limb
skeleton

• The “double life” of amphibians refers to the

metamorphosis of many frogs
– Larval stage (tadpole): a legless, aquatic algae-
eater with gills, a lateral line system, and a
long, finned tail
– Adult: a terrestrial insect eater with four legs
and air-breathing lungs
• Most amphibians are found in damp habitats, where
their skin functions in gas exchange
• Amphibian skin usually contains poison glands that
function in defense

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Reptiles are amniotes—tetrapods with a terrestrially adapted egg
• Reptiles include lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles, birds,
and a number of extinct groups such as dinosaurs
• The major derived characteristic of the clade containing
reptiles and mammals is the amniotic egg
– Embryo develops with a protective, fluid-filled sac
– Enabled reptiles to complete their life cycles on land

• Reptile adaptations for terrestrial life in addition to

the amniotic egg include
– Scaly, waterproof skin that keeps body from
drying out
– Lungs for obtaining oxygen
– Ecothermic metabolism (in nonbirds)
• Dinosaurs, the most diverse reptiles, included some
of the largest animals ever to inhabit land
– May have been endothermic
– Died out 65 million years ago but left birds as
descendants

Birds are feathered reptiles with adaptations for

flight
• Birds likely evolved from a lineage of small,
two-legged dinosaurs called theropods
– Evidence from fossils such as
Archaeopteryx

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Wing claw
(like dinosaur)

Teeth • Nearly every part of the body of most birds reflects

(like dinosaur)
adaptations that enhance flight
– Weight-reducing features such as few teeth,
strong but light bones
– Feathers
– Large, powerful breast muscles
– Endothermic metabolism, highly efficient
circulatory system
Feathers
Long tail with – Acute vision
many vertebrae
(like dinosaur)

• Birds have relatively large brains and

complex behaviors
– Male and female cooperation in raising
young
– Migration
• A few flightless species of birds exist
(example: emu)

Mammals are amniotes that have hair and produce milk

• Main adaptive features of mammals
– Hair, which provides insulation

– Mammary glands, which produce milk

– Endothermic metabolism
– Efficient respiratory and circulatory systems
– Differentiation of teeth for different foods
– Large brain, long period of parental care allowing
for learning

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• There are three main groups of living mammals
– Monotremes lay eggs

• Examples: echidna, duck-billed platypus

– The embryos of marsupials and eutherians are
nurtured by the placenta within the uterus
• Marsupials complete development
outside the mother’s body
• Eutherians (placental mammals)
complete development before birth

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Chordates

Flatworms

Nematodes

Arthropods
Molluscs

Annelids
Echinoderms
Cnidarians
Sponges

Deuterostomes Lophotrochozoans Ecdysozoans

Bilaterians
Radial symmetry
Bilateral symmetry

Eumetazoans
No true tissues
True tissues

Ancestral
colonial protist

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