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2. The
Architectural
Patterns of
Animals
Mario V Balzan PhD
[email protected]

The Architectural Patterns of Animals

• Although animal diversity is enormous, having a common
ancestor, ancestral inheritance limits the design of animals.
• There are distinctive characteristics of each group.
• Architecture: Basic architectural patterns of animal organisation.
• Levels of organisation (unicellular, multicellular, etc)
• Symmetry
• Embryonic germ layers and body cavities
• Metamerism (segmentation)

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Structural Levels of Organisation

• Protoplasmic level: Vital functions are found inside a cell.
Increased Complexity

• Cellular level: Aggregation of functionally differentiated cells.

• Tissue level: Similar cells are organized to carry out a
common function, forming tissues. Volvox
• Organ level: Tissue aggregation to form organs. Flatworm
• Systems level: Organs that coordinate to perform a certain
function

Flatworm

Porifera Cnidaria

Structural Levels of Organisation

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Structural Levels of Organisation

Structural Levels of Organisation

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Structural Levels of Organisation

• Protoplasmic level: Vital functions are found inside a cell.
Protists
Increased Complexity

• Cellular level: Aggregation of functionally differentiated cells.

Some Protists (e.g. Volvox) and Porifera
• Tissue level: Similar cells are organised to carry out a Volvox
common function, forming tissues. Cnidarians
• Organ level: Tissue aggregation to form organs. Flatworms
Flatworm
• Systems level: Organs that coordinate to
perform a certain function. Rest of animals Flatworm

Porifera Cnidaria

Structural Levels of Organisation

Complexity and Body Size:
• A correlate of increased anatomical complexity
is an increase in body size, which offers certain
advantages, such as more effective protection
against predation, reduced energy cost of
locomotion, and improved homeostasis.

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Symmetry
Evolutionary Divergence

Symmetry
Symmetry: the arrangement of body
structures with reference to some axis or
body plan.
Leads to a balance of proportions and
correspondence in size and shape of
opposite sides.
Any organism that when divided along a
length of any plane results in two equal
parts is said to by symmetrical.

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Symmetry
• Asymmetry – the absence of symmetry
• Typical of porifera

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Symmetry
• Spherical Symmetry – any plane passing through the centre
divides a body into equivalent, or mirrored, halves. Infinite
symmetry planes.
• Occurs among some unicellular forms and is rare in animals.
Normally, floating or rolling organisms (Protists).

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Symmetry
• Radial Symmetry – applies to forms that can be divided into
similar halves by more than two planes passing trough the
longitudinal axis.
• Tubular, vase or bowl shaped. E.g sponges, hydras, jellyfish, sea
urchins. Usually, one end of the longitudinal axis is the mouth
(oral surface). In sessile forms, e.g. hydra and sea anemones, the
basal attachment dis is the aboral surface.

Cnidaria

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Symmetry
• Bilateral Symmetry - animals that can be divided along a sagittal
plane into two mirrored portions - right and left halves.
• Bilateral animals are much better fitted for directional (forward)
movement than are radially symmetrical animals.
• Cephalisation – strongly associated with bilateral symmetry.
Produces an efficient localisation of organs for sensing the
environment and responding to it.
• Cephalization is always accompanied by differentiation along an
anteroposterior axis, although the evolution of this axis preceded
cephalization

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Symmetry

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Symmetry
Evolutionary Divergence

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ORGANOGENESIS
FERTILISATION

EMERGENCE
OF THE
MESODERM

SEGMENTATION
GASTRULATION
(2 germ layers)
Blastocoel

MORULA
Archenteron (primitive gut)
BLASTULA Blastopore

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Germ Layer Structures

Endoderm - Epithelium lining the digestive tract (except the oral cavity and anal canal) and the epithelium of its glands.
- Epithelium lining the urinary bladder, bile ducts, and liver.
- Epithelium lining the pharynx, Eustachian tube, tonsils, tympanic cavity, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs.
- Epithelium of the thyroid, parathyroid, pancreas, and thymus glands.
- Epithelium lining the prostate, Cowper's glands, vagina, vestibule, urethra, and associated glands.
Mesoderm - All cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue, and most of the smooth muscle tissue.
- Cartilage, bone, and other connective tissues.
- Blood, red bone marrow, and lymphatic tissue.
- Blood vessels and lymphatic vessels.
- Dermis of the skin.
- Fibrous tunic and vascular tunic of the eye.
- Mesothelium of the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic cavities.
- Kidneys and ureters.
- Adrenal cortex.
- Gonads and genital ducts (excluding germ cells).
- Dura mater (outer layer of the meninges).
Ectoderm - All nervous tissue.
- Epidermis of the skin.
- Hair follicles, arrector pili muscles, nails, and the epithelium of cutaneous (sebaceous and sweat) glands and mammary glands.
- Lens and cornea.
- Inner ear.
- Neuroepithelium of sensory organs.
- Epithelium of the oral and nasal cavities, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands, and parts of the anal canal.
- Epithelium of the pineal gland, pituitary gland, and adrenal medulla.
- Melanocytes (pigment-producing cells).
- Nearly all components of the skull and connective tissues of the head.
- Arachnoid and pia mater (meningeal layers).

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• Radial Cleavage
• Blastopore becomes an
anus and a new opening
makes the mouth;
• The coelom forms via
enterocoely
• Cleavage is regulative
• Animals with these
features are called
Deuterosomes. E.g. sea
urchins, chordates.
• Spiral Cleavage
• Blastopore becomes
mouth;
• Cleavage is mosaic;
• If a coelom is present, it
is made via schizocoely.
Animals in this latter
group are called
lophotrochozoan
protostomes, and
include molluscs,
segmented worms, and
other taxa
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Metamerism (segmentation)
• Serial repetition of body units along the longitudinal axis.
• SEGMENT or METAMER = A segment or metamer refers to the
repetitive units in the body of segmented animals. These units
often contain repeating structures such as muscles, nerves, blood
vessels, locomotor appendages, and in some cases, sexual and
excretory organs.
• Only in some CELOMATES (i.e. in Annelids, Arthropods and
Chordates)
• Superficial banding of the body

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Metamerism (segmentation)

Annelids Cestoda

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Metamerism
(segmentation)
• Arthropods show external and internal segmentation, with clear
functional specialisation of body regions through tagmosis.
• Chordates exhibit internal segmentation in structures like
vertebrae, somites, and spinal nerves, which facilitate coordinated
movement and structural support.
• Segmentation may be homomeric segmentation in which the
segments are more or less the same, or heteromeric
segmentation wherein the segments differ from one another.

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