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Intro To Arthropods. HW: Complete page 1 in RB 2 (Resource book 2 – the pink one). Overview. Arthropods have been around for 500 million years. There are about a million known species of arthropods.
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Intro To Arthropods HW: Complete page 1 in RB 2 (Resource book 2 – the pink one)
Overview • Arthropods have been around for 500 million years. • There are about a million known species of arthropods. • This are more species in this one phylum than you would get by grouping all members of all other phyla together. • There are 160 million insects for each person on this Earth. • There are so many copepods & tiny crustaceans that together they outweigh all the whales on Earth.
Habitat • Given that there are a million of different species, they are found in almost all habitats on Earth. • Many crustaceans live in the sea at depths exceeding 4,000 metres. (That’s 2.5 miles deep) • Insect collembolans and jumping spiders have been found on Mount Everest at heights exceeding 6,700 metres. (That’s 4 MILES high.) • Collembolans and the orbatid mites live in Antarctica. • Brine shrimp are found in some saltwater lakes. • Beetles, mites, and various crustaceans can live in hot springs. • Tiny crustaceans inhabit underground waters. • Deserts support a large arthropod population, especially insects and arachnids.
Niches • All are free-living, and the aspects of their niche that affect humans include: • Many species of insects and mites attack food crops and timber. • Two-thirds of all flowering plants are pollinated by insects. • 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. • To protect themselves many arthropods (insects) will sting their attacker.
Medical Importance • Medically, arthropods are significant as carriers of diseases, including: • Malaria • Yellow fever • Dengue fever • African sleeping sickness (via tsetse flies) • typhus fever (via lice) • bubonic plague (via fleas) • Rocky Mountain spotted fever (via ticks) • Lyme disease (via ticks)
Arthropod Characteristics • What makes an organism an arthropod? • Exoskeleton • Segmented Body with paired appendages • Bilateral symmetry • One way digestive system (mouth and anus) • Open circulatory system • Separate sexes
Arthropod Subphyla & Classes • There are many different classes of Arthropods, including: • Class Merostomata (horseshoe crabs, eurypterids:sea scorpions) • Class Arachnida (spiders, ticks, mites) • Class Crustacea • Class Chilopoda (centipedes) • Class Diplopoda (millipedes) • Class Insecta