Phylum – Porifera

Members of this phylum are commonly known as sponges. They are generally marine and mostly asymmetrical animals.
These are primitive multicellular.

Examples of Porifera : (a) Sycon (b) Euspongia (c) Spongilla

Calcarea
 They are found in marine, shallow, and coastal water.
 Their skeleton is composed of calcareous spicules made of calcium carbonate.
 The body is cylindrical and exhibits radial symmetry.
 The body organization is asconoid, syconoid, or leuconoid.

Hexactinellids
 They are found in marine and the deep sea.
 The skeleton is made up of six-rayed siliceous spicules.
 The body is cylindrical in shape and exhibit radial symmetry.

Desmospongiae
 They are found in marine or freshwater.
 The body is asymmetrical and cylindrical in shape.
 The canal system is a leuconoid type.
 The skeleton comprises spongin fibres, siliceous spicules, which are monoaxon and triaxon.

Phylum – Coelenterata (Cnidaria)

They are aquatic, mostly marine, sessile or free-swimming, radially symmetrical animals.

Examples of Coelenterata indicating outline of their body form : (a) Aurelia (Medusa) (b) Adamsia (Polyp)

Anthozoa

 almost completely sessile. Example – corals, sea anemones, sea pens

Scyphozoa

 swimming (true jellyfish)

Cubozoa

 box jellies, possess complex eyes and potent toxins

Hydrozoa

 most diverse group with hydroids, siphonophores, several medusae, fire corals

Phylum – Platyhelminthes
They have dorso-ventrally flattened body, hence are called flatworms
Examples: Taenia (Tapeworm), Fasciola (Liver fluke)

Turbellaria

 These are free-living organisms found mostly in fresh water.

 The body is dorsoventrally flattened.

Trematoda
 These are mostly parasitic.
 Hooks and suckers are usually present.

Cestoda
 These are exclusively parasitic.
 They have hooks and suckers.

Phylum – Aschelminthes
Commonly known as roundworms.

Examples: Ascaris (Roundworm), Wuchereria (Filaria worm), Ancylostoma (Hookworm)

Phylum – Annelida
They may be aquatic (marine and freshwater) or terrestrial; free-living, and sometimes parasitic.

Examples: Nereis, Pheretima (Earthworm) and Hirudinaria (Bloodsucking leech).

Polychaeta

 The body is elongated and divided into segments.

 They are found in the marine environment.
 These are true coelomates, bilaterally symmetrical worms.
Oligochaeta

 They are mostly freshwater and terrestrial organisms.

 The body is segmented metamerically.
 Head, eyes and tentacles are not distinct.
 Cocoon formation occurs.
 The organisms belonging to this class are monoecious.
Hirudinea

 Most commonly found in freshwater. Some are marine, terrestrial, and parasitic.
 The body is segmented.
 The tentacles, parapodia, and setae are not present.
 The animals are monoecious.
 The body is dorsoventrally or cylindrically flattened.
Archiannelida

 They are found only in the marine environment.

 The body is elongated without setae and parapodia.
 They are unisexual or hermaphrodite.
 Tentacles are present on the prostomium.

Phylum – Arthropoda
This is the largest phylum of Animalia which includes insects.

Examples: Economically important insects – Apis (Honey bee), Bombyx (Silkworm), Laccifer (Lac insect)

Crustacea
1. They are aquatic, terrestrial, or parasitic.
2. The head is fused with the thorax region known as the cephalothorax.
3. Respiration occurs through gills or general body surface.

Myriapoda
1. These are mostly terrestrial.
2. The body is elongated with numerous segments.
3. The head is provided with antennae, two pairs of jaws, and a pair of simple eyes.
4. They contain numerous legs.

Hexapoda
1. They are mostly terrestrial.
2. The body is differentiated into head, thorax, and abdomen.
3. Head bears a pre-segmental acron.
4. Eg., Tabernus, Mosquitoes, Ants.

Chelicerata
1. They are mostly found on land.
2. The body is differentiated into cephalothorax and abdomen.
3. Antennae are absent.

Onychophora
1. These are small-sized, terrestrial arthropods.
2. The body is divided into segments.
3. Excretion occurs through nephridia.
4. They respire through the trachea.

Trilobitomorpha
1. These are primitive arthropods and are extinct.
2. They were found in abundance during the Paleozoic era.
3. The body was divided into three lobes- one median and two lateral lobes.
Phylum – Mollusca
This is the second largest animal phylum. Molluscs are terrestrial or aquatic (marine or freshwater) having an organ-
system level of organization.

Examples: Pila (Apple snail), Pinctada (Pearl oyster), Sepia (Cuttlefish), Loligo (Squid), Octopus (Devil fish), Aplysia
(Seahare), Dentalium (Tusk shell) and Chaetopleura (Chiton).

Aplacophora or Solenogasters
 The body is cylindrical or bilaterally symmetrical.
 These are devoid of the head, shell, mantel, nephridia, and foot.
 The digestive ceca is absent.
 Spicule-bearing cuticle covers the body.
 It contains a dorsal longitudinal keel or crest.
 E.g. Neomenia, Chaetoderma

Monoplacophora
 The body is bilaterally symmetrical.
 The head is devoid of eyes and tentacles.
 Respiration occurs through gills which are externally located.
 The nitrogenous waste is excreted out through nephridia.
 E.g. Neopilina

Polyplacophora
 Their body is dorsoventrally flattened like a leaf, and are bilaterally symmetrical.
 The shell is composed of 8 longitudinal plates.
 They have a well-developed radula.
 The ventral foot is flat.
 E.g. Chiton, Cryptochiton.

Gastropoda
 They are found either on land or in fresh and marine water.
 The head bears tentacles, eyes, and a mouth.
 The shell is spiral in shape.
 The foot is flat and large.
 E.g. Haliotis, Pila

Scaphopoda
 Found in the marine environment.
 The eyes and tentacles are absent.
 The foot is reduced.
 The body is bilaterally symmetrical.

Pelecypoda
 They reside in aquatic habitats.
 The body is bilaterally symmetrical and compressed laterally.
 The body has no distinct head.
 They usually burrow in mud and sand.
 E.g. Mussels, Unio
Cephalopoda
 They are mostly found in the marine environment.
 The shell is either external, internal, or not present at all.
 They have separate sexes.
 The development is direct.
 E.g. Octopus, Spirula

phylum Echinodermata
the organisms belonging to the phylum Echinodermata are exclusively marine. They have a star-like appearance and are
spherical or elongated.

Asteroidea
 They have a flattened, star-shaped body with five arms.
 They have tube feet with suckers.
 They respire through papulae.
 The body comprises of calcareous plates and movable spines.
 Eg., Asterias, Zoroaster

Ophiuroidea
 The body is flat with pentamerous discs.
 The tube feet are devoid of suckers.
 They respire through Bursae.
 The long arms are demarcated from the central disc.
 Eg., Ophiderma, Amphuria

Echinoidea
 The body is hemispherical.
 The tube feet contains suckers.
 The body does not have arms.
 The body has a compact skeleton and movable spines.
 Eg., Echinus, Cidaris

Holothuroidea
 The body is long and cylindrical.
 The arms, spines, and pedicellariae are absent.
 They respire through the cloacal respiratory tree.
 They possess tube feet with suckers.
 Eg., Cucumaria, Holothuria
Crinoidea
 The body is star-shaped.
 The tube feet have no suckers.
 The arms are bifurcated.
 Spines and pedicellariae are absent.
 Eg., Neometra, Antedon

Phylum – Chordata
Animals belonging to phylum Chordata are fundamentally characterised by the presence of a notochord, a dorsal.

Urochordata

 The adults are fixed to the substratum.

 It is also known as Tunicate because the body of an adult is enclosed within a tunic made up of cellulose-like
substance known as tunicin.
 Notochord can be seen only in the larval stage and disappears in adults.
 The nerve cord present in larva is replaced by a dorsal ganglion in adults.
 The larva can move and undergoes a metamorphosis.
For e.g., Ascidia, Salpa, Doliolum.

Cephalochordata

 The atrium is present.

 Motile adult and larval stage.
 The tail is present throughout life.
 They show progressive metamorphosis.
 The notochord is found throughout life.
 Numerous well-developed pharyngeal gill slits are present.
For e.g., Lancelets possess the notochord and nerve cord throughout their life. However, they lack the brain and bony
vertebral column like Branchiostoma.

Vertebrata

 These are advanced chordates and have cranium around the brain.
 The notochord is replaced by a vertebral column in adults. This is why it is said that ‘all vertebrates are
chordates but all chordates are not vertebrates’.
 A high degree of cephalization is observed.
 The epidermis is multi-layered.
For e.g., humans.

Classes of verbrata:

fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds.