Portal:Arthropods

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Arthropod

Arthropods are the largest phylum of animals and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others. Arthropods are characterised by the possession of a segmented body with appendages on each segment. They have a dorsal heart and a ventral nervous system. All arthropods are covered by a hard exoskeleton made of chitin, a polysaccharide, which provides physical protection and resistance to desiccation. Periodically, an arthropod sheds this covering when it moults. More than 80% of described living animal species are arthropods, with over a million modern species described and a fossil record reaching back to the late proterozoic era. Arthropods are common throughout marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and even aerial environments, as well as including various symbiotic and parasitic forms. They range in size from microscopic plankton (~¼ mm) up to forms several metres long.
Arthropods ...
  

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Meat eater ant feeding on honey
Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related families of wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. They are a diverse group of more than 12,000 species, with a higher diversity in the tropics. They are known for their highly organized colonies and nests, which sometimes consist of millions of individuals. Individuals are divided into sub-fertile, and more commonly sterile, females ("workers", "soldiers", and other castes), fertile males ("drones"), and fertile females ("queens"). Colonies can occupy and use a wide area of land to support themselves. Ant colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because the colony appears to operate as a unified entity.

Ants have colonized almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ant species are Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, parts of Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands, and other remote or inhospitable islands. When all their individual contributions are added up, they may constitute up to 15 to 25% of the total terrestrial animal biomass.

  

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Marbled Orb Weaver
Credit: Piccolo Namek

The orb-weaver spiders (family Araneidae) are the familiar builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields and forests. The family is a large one, including over 2800 species in over 160 genera worldwide, making it the third largest known (behind Salticidae and Linyphiidae). The web has always been thought of as an engineering marvel.

  

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    1. Create article for each family
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      1. Ensure all articles between the order and family rank are taxonomically consistent
      2. Ensure all articles between family and genus rank are taxonomically consistent
    3. Create articles for all species and for needed genera. Many species, however, are virtually undescribed.
    4. Emphasise the identifying aspects of each category. Please concentrate on features that are observable without dissection or microscope, and remember to link to definitions of specialist terms used! (See complete tasklist)
      

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    For more information on classification, see arthropod classification, crustacean, arachnid classification, insect classification, Myriapoda and trilobite.

      

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    • This page was last modified on 23 April 2008, at 14:21.

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