MODULE 14.

LESSON PROPER

PHYLUM ARTHROPODA

The name “arthropoda” means “jointed legs” (in the Greek, “arthros” means “joint” and “podos”
means “leg”); it aptly describes the enormous number of invertebrates included in this phylum.
Arthropoda dominate the animal kingdom with an estimated 85 percent of known species included
in this phylum and many arthropods yet undocumented. The principal characteristics of all the
animals in this phylum are functional segmentation of the body and presence of jointed
appendages. Arthropods also show the presence of an exoskeleton made principally of chitin,
which is a waterproof, tough polysaccharide. Phylum Arthropoda is the largest phylum in the
animal world, and insects form the single largest class within this phylum. Arthropods are
eucoelomate, protostomic organisms.

Phylum Arthropoda includes animals that have been successful in colonizing terrestrial, aquatic,
and aerial habitats. This phylum is further classified into five subphyla:

1. Trilobitomorpha (trilobites, all extinct),

2. Hexapoda (insects and relatives),
3. Myriapoda (millipedes, centipedes, and relatives),
4. Crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, crayfish, isopods, barnacles, and some zooplankton), and
5. Chelicerata (horseshoe crabs, arachnids, scorpions, and daddy longlegs).

Trilobites are an extinct group of arthropods found chiefly in the pre-Cambrian Era that are
probably most closely related to the Chelicerata. These are identified based on fossil records.
MORPHOLOGY

A unique feature of animals in the arthropod phylum is the presence of a segmented body and
fusion of sets of segments that give rise to functional body regions called tagma. Tagma may be
in the form of a head, thorax, and abdomen, or a cephalothorax and abdomen, or a head and trunk.
A central cavity, called the hemocoel (or blood cavity), is present, and the open circulatory system
is regulated by a tubular or single-chambered heart. Respiratory systems vary depending on the
group of arthropods: insects and myriapods use a series of tubes (tracheae) that branch through the
body, open to the outside through openings called spiracles, and perform gas exchange directly
between the cells and air in the tracheae, whereas aquatic crustaceans utilize gills, terrestrial
chelicerates employ book lungs, and aquatic chelicerates use book gills.

• The book lungs of arachnids (scorpions, spiders, ticks and mites) contain a vertical stack
of hemocoel wall tissue that somewhat resembles the pages of a book.
• Between each of the “pages” of tissue is an air space. This allows both sides of the tissue
to be in contact with the air at all times, greatly increasing the efficiency of gas exchange.
• The gills of crustaceans are filamentous structures that exchange gases with the
surrounding water.
• Groups of arthropods also differ in the organs used for excretion, with crustaceans
possessing green glands and insects using Malpighian tubules, which work in conjunction
with the hindgut to reabsorb water while ridding the body of nitrogenous waste.
• The cuticle is the covering of an arthropod. It is made up of two layers:
a. the epicuticle, which is a thin, waxy water-resistant outer layer containing no chitin,
and the layer beneath it,
b. the chitinous procuticle.
• Arthropod, (phylum Arthropoda), any member of the phylum Arthropoda, the largest
phylum in the animal kingdom, which includes such familiar forms as lobsters, crabs,
spiders, mites, insects, centipedes, and millipedes.
• About 84 percent of all known species of animals are members of this phylum. Arthropods
are represented in every habitat on Earth and show a great variety of adaptations.
 • Several types live in aquatic environments, and others reside in terrestrial ones; some
groups are even adapted for flight.

The distinguishing feature of arthropods is the presence of a jointed skeletal covering composed
of chitin (a complex sugar) bound to protein. This nonliving exoskeleton is secreted by the
underlying epidermis (which corresponds to the skin of other animals). Arthropods lack
locomotory cilia, even in the larval stages, probably because of the presence of the exoskeleton.
The body is usually segmented, and the segments bear paired jointed appendages, from which the
name arthropod (“jointed feet”) is derived. About one million arthropod species have been
described, of which most are insects. This number, however, may be only a fraction of the total.
Based on the number of undescribed species collected from the treetops of tropical forests,
zoologists have estimated the total number of insect species alone to be as high as 5.5 million. The
more than 48,000 described species of mites may also represent only a fraction of the existing
number.

GENERAL FEATURES OF ARTHROPODA

CHARACTERISTICS

The arthropoda characteristics are mentioned below:

1. The body is triploblastic, segmented, and bilaterally symmetrical.

2. They exhibit organ system level of organization.
3. The body is divided into head, thorax, and abdomen.
4. Their body has jointed appendages which help in locomotion.
5. The coelomic cavity is filled with blood.
6. They have an open circulatory system.
 7. The head bears a pair of compound eyes.
8. The exoskeleton is made of chitin.
9. The terrestrial Arthropods excrete through Malpighian tubules while the aquatic ones
excrete through green glands or coaxal glands.
10. They are unisexual and fertilization is either external or internal.
11. They have a well-developed digestive system.
12. They respire through the general body surface or trachea.
13. They contain sensory organs like hairs, antennae, simple and compound eyes, auditory
organs, and statocysts.

DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE

Arthropods are found in almost all of the habitats that cover the Earth’s surface. Minute copepods
(typically less than 1 millimetre long) are among the most abundant animals on Earth, especially
in marine surface waters. Many other crustaceans live in the sea at depths exceeding 4,000 metres
(around 13,100 feet), while the insect collembolans and jumping spiders have been found on
Mount Everest at heights exceeding 6,700 metres (around 22,000 feet). Collembolans and the
oribatid mites are among the permanent inhabitants of Antarctica. Brine shrimp are found in some
saltwater lakes, and beetles, mites, and various crustaceans have been taken from hot springs.
Minute crustaceans inhabit underground waters in many parts of the world, and deserts support a
large arthropod fauna, especially insects and arachnids. Arthropods are the only invertebrates
capable of flight.

The numbers and diversity of arthropods are enormous. A bag filled with leaf mold from a forest
floor, for example, will contain hundreds of arthropods, including mites, spiders, false scorpions,
myriapods, a great variety of insects, and crustacean pill bugs. In the spring a temporary pool often
teems with minute crustaceans.
IMPORTANCE

Arthropods are of great direct and indirect importance to humans. The larger crustaceans—
shrimps, lobsters, and crabs—are used as food throughout the world. Small planktonic crustaceans,
such as copepods, water fleas, and krill, are a major link in the food chain between the
photosynthetic phytoplankton and the larger carnivores, such as many fish and whales. Although
many species of insects and mites attack food crops and timber, arthropods are of enormous benefit
to human agriculture. Approximately two-thirds of all flowering plants are pollinated by insects,
and soil and leaf-mold arthropods, which include insects, mites, myriapods, and some crustaceans
(pill bugs), play an important role in the formation of humus from decomposed leaf litter and wood.

The stings and bites of arthropods may be irritating or painful, but very few inject dangerous toxins.
Medically, arthropods are more significant as carriers of diseases such as malaria, yellow fever,
dengue, and elephantiasis (via mosquitos), African sleeping sickness (via tsetse flies), typhus fever
(via lice), bubonic plague (via fleas), and Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease (via
ticks). Many diseases of domesticated animals are also transmitted by arthropods.

CLASSIFICATION OF PHYLUM ARTHROPODA

The classification of phylum arthropoda are as follows:

SUBPHYLUM 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.
4. Head bore a pair of compound eyes and a pair of antennae.
 5. There was no structural differentiation of the body parts.
6. The body was divided into head, thorax and pygidium.
7. Appendages are biramous.

SUBPHYLUM HEXAPODA

1. They are mostly terrestrial.

2. The body is differentiated into head, thorax, and abdomen.
3. Head bears a pre-segmental acron.
4. The thorax is divided into three segments.
5. The abdomen has 7-11 segments.
6. They have three pair of appendages.
7. It has a pair of compound eyes
8. They respire through gills and trachea.
9. Malpighian tubules are the excretory organ.
10. Development is indirect, and the larval stage is present.
11. Eg., Tabernus, Mosquitoes, Ants.

The subphylum Hexapoda is divided into two classes:

a. Class Entognatha: Animals that are not quite insects; (e.g. Collembola)
b. Class Insecta (Insects)
SUBPHYLUM 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.
5. The upper lip of the mouth contains epistome and labrum, and the lower lip contains a pair
of maxillae.
6. A pair of mandibles is present inside the mouth.
7. They respire by trachea and excretion occurs by Malpighian tubules.
8. Eg., Julus, Scolopendra

The subphylum Myriapoda is divided into the following classes:

a. Class Chilopoda (Centipedes)

b. Class Diplopoda (Millipedes)
c. Class Symphyla (Small centipede like creatures which live in leaf litter)
d. Class Pauropoda (Small soft bodied animals of the forest floor)
SUBPHYLUM 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.
4. The body is covered by a single large carapace.
5. They possess two pairs of antennae and five pairs of appendages.
6. They excrete through green glands or antennal glands.
7. They have a pair of compound eyes and gonopores.
8. Development is indirect. Larval stage is present.
9. Body in three parts, thorax in eight segments
10. Eg., Daphnia, Palaemon

The subphylum Crustacea is divided into the following classes

a. Class Cephalocarida (Small primitive shrimps only discovered in 1955)

b. Class Branchiopoda (Small primitive animals with gills on their feet, i.e. Daphnia)
c. Class Ostracoda (small animals which look like miniature bivalves)
d. Class Mystacocarida (Minute thin shrimp like creatures)
e. Class Copepeda (Important small crustaceans such as Cyclops)
f. Class Branchiura (Small blood sucking ectoparasites)
g. Class Cirripeda (Barnacles)
h. Class Malacostraca (75% of all Crustaceans, Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimps and Prawns – as
well as Isopods and Terrestrial Amphipods)
Subphylum Chelicerata

1. They are mostly found on land.

2. The body is differentiated into cephalothorax and abdomen.
3. Antennae are absent.
4. The abdomen is divided into 13 segments.
5. It has four pairs of interior appendages.
6. They respire through trachea or gills.
7. The Malpighian tubules help in excretion.
8. Eg., Aramea, Limulus

The subphylum Chelicerata is divided into the following classes:

a. Class Merostomata (Horseshoe Crabs)

b. Class Arachnida (Spiders, Mite, Scorpions, etc.)
c. Class Pycnogonida (Sea Spiders)