Practical 4: Arthropoda

o Metamerically segmented with paired limbs attached to segments

o Chitinous exoskeleton; ventral nerve cord; dorsal heart
o Coelom reduced to cavities of gonads & excretory organs
o Some body segments grouped together to form functional regions known as
tagma
o Some anterior limbs – either whole limbs, or just their ends – modified to
form jaws
o The arthropods include crustaceans, insects, arachnids and myriapods.
o They are far and away the most diverse phylum of animals on planet earth,
with somewhere between 5-10 million species estimated (>85% of all animal
species). They occupy almost every imaginable ecological niche in marine,
freshwater and terrestrial environments, from the deep sea to the deserts.
They include the only invertebrates to have mastered flight (the insects). 

Subphylum Crustacea

 Two tagmata (head and trunk) or three tagmata (head, thorax and abdomen)
 Two pairs of antennae
 Three pairs of gnathobasic jaws (mandibles, maxillules and maxillae)
 Trunk bears biramous limbs (some secondarily uniramous), some of which
carry gills
 Mostly aquatic or marine; some amphibious or terrestrial
 Metamerically segmented with paired limbs attached to segments

Class Branchiopoda

 Paired biramous limbs bearing gnathobases on either side of midventral food

groove
 Separate sexes 

The brine shrimp, Artemia salina is an anostracan branchiopod found in saline pools. 

 Trunk limbs, which function in: (i) locomotion; (ii) filtering of particulate
food from the water; (iii) gas exchange.
 The general order of limbs on the head of a crustacean is antennules (first
antennae), antennae (second antennae), mandibles, maxillules (first
maxillae), maxillae (second maxillae).
 Head with antennules and antennae (modified in the male as claspers);
median simple eye and paired compound eyes; ventral labrum overhanging
the mouth; mandibles.
 Trunk of numerous segments: the thoracic segments bearing leaf-like limbs,
and the limbless abdominal segments.

The nauplis larval form is common to many crustaceans.

  The short sensory antennules, biramous locomotory antennae, shorter biramous
mandibles; food collecting fans of antennal setae; feeding spines on the antennae
and mandibles; trunk rudiment with the beginnings of segment formation. 

Class Maxillipoda

 Thorax of 6 segments and an abdomen of up to 5 segments

 Thorax bears 6 pairs of trunk limbs lacking gnathobases and a median food
groove
 First pair of thoracic limbs modified as maxillipeds; the abdomen is limbless
 Separate sexes or hermaphroditic
 This class includes copepods, ostracods and barnacles. 
 Copepods are small marine crustaceans that have no compound eyes or
carapace, a head fused with first trunk segment to form cephalothorax and
separate sexes. Ostracods are also small marine crustaceans. 
 Barnacles belong to the Subclass Thecostraca. They are the only sessile
maxillopods, having  a bivalved carapace enclosing the body. Their thoracic
limbs are modified as feeding cirri (except in parasitic species). They are
hermaphrodites.

Class Malacostraca

 Trunk of eight thoracic segments and six or seven abdominal segments

 Compound eyes
 All trunk segments bear limbs
 Separate sexes: female openings on 6th thoracic segment, male openings on
8th thoracic segment
 The Class Malacostraca is hyper diverse and includes isopods, amphipods,
krill and many larger crustaceans.

External structure
(i) Cephalothorax:

 Formed from fusion of the head and thorax; covered by a strong carapace;
 Lateral inflations of the exoskeleton (branchiostegites) covering the gills;
 Anterior point of cephalothorax between the eyes (rostrum);
 Mouthparts covered ventrally by the flattened, specialized third maxillipeds;
 Five pairs of pereiopods, the first pair modified as grasping and defensive
chelae, the next four pairs as strongly developed walking legs (rapid
sideways locomotion);
 Reproductive openings in the base of pereiopod 5 (male) or pereiopod 3
(female); see Fig 3

 (ii) Abdomen:

 Six obvious segments connected in a flexible manner;

 Four pairs of abdominal appendages (pleopods);
  Obvious tail fan bearing the anus.

Subphylum Hexapoda

 Predominantly terrestrial
 One pair of antennae
 Uniramous limbs
 Jaws derived from whole limbs
 Head-trunk tagmosis (head-thorax-abdomen in some)
 This subphylum includes Class Entognatha and Class Insecta.

Entognaths are tiny, apterous (wingless) hexapods contains three orders: Collembola,
Diplura and Protura. These groups were historically united with the order Thysanura to
form the class Apterygota, but it has since been recognised that the hexapodous
condition of these animals has evolved independently from that of insects, and
independently within each order. 

Class Insecta

 A body is divided into three sections (tagmata): head, thorax and abdomen.
 One pair of antennae and one pair of compound eyes.
 Mouthparts: proceeding from the anterior end these are:
o the labrum (upper lip, part of the face);
o paired mandibles (lateral);
o paired maxillae (lateral);
o the labium (lower lip, ventral)
o the hypopharynx (‘tongue’; arises from base of labium)
 Mandible is a heavily sclerotised, grinding structure with an outer sharp tooth
(incisor) and an area of smaller ridges known as the molar/grinding area.
 Maxilla is a rather more complicated structure, consisting of several sclerites.
 The lower lip or labium consists of three fused sclerites.
 The labrum and hypopharynx are not true appendages but are outgrowths from
the body wall.
 Second maxillae are fused to form the labium (lower lip) in insects. In many
respects, the mouthparts of insects are homologous to those of crustaceans

Wings

 Forewings are partially sclerotized and leathery.

 Number of tubular ridges running longitudinally in each wing. These are veins.
Within each vein are a nerve and a trachea and since the cavity of each vein is
connected to the haemocoel, the haemolymph can circulate round the wing. This
is important in the moult to the adult stage since the haemolymph is used to
expand the wing.
 The wings are thin, rigid flaps hinged to the thorax by small axillary sclerites. 

Abdomen
  The abdominal segments of the locust consist of two plates only: a dorsal tergum
and ventral sternum.
 The last segment  is modified to form structures involved in reproduction. The
male has simple unsegmented cerci (sensory organs located on the last
abdominal segment), while the female has a pointed ovipositor.

Order Coleoptera: (the beetles). Characteristic elytra are modified forewings protecting
hind wings, usually covering abdomen as well. Larvae extremely varied.
Order Diptera: (true flies). Only forewings for flight. Hindwings modified as halteres
(beat at same frequency as wings and act as a gyroscopic inertial navigation system).
Order Lepidoptera: (butterflies and moths). Characteristic wing scales. All but the most
primitive feed on nectar with elaborate tongue (the fused galeae of the maxillae). Fore
and hind wings linked by hooks and pegs.
Order Hymenoptera: (sawflies, ants, bees and wasps). All but the first have
characteristic ’wasp waist‘, a constriction after the first abdominal segment (this
segment is fused to the thorax). All have membranous wings with reduced venation; the
hind wings bear hooks on their leading edge, which fit into grooves on the hind edge of
the forewings, thus coupling the two wings together.
Subphylum Chelicerata

 Two tagma – prosoma and opisthosoma

 One pair chelicerae and one pair pedipalps (both usually chelate) on prosoma
 Uniramous limbs including 4 pairs walking legs, all or some of with
gnathobases acting as jaws
 No antennae and no true jaws
 Formerly dominant in aquatic systems, now mostly terrestrial

Class Arachnida

 Mostly terrestrial, carnivorous chelicerates

 Prosoma bears chelicerae, pedipalps and four pairs walking legs
 Opisthosoma of 13 segments + telson, but often reduced
 Book lungs or trachea.

Order Araneae (spiders)
 Spiders are characterized by chelicerae usually subchelate (piercing structures
or ‘fangs’), a definite ‘waist’, no obvious segmentation (except in the primitive
Liphistiidae), spinnerets at the end of opisthosoma, and (often) accessory
weaving structures on the feet. There are two infraorders: Mygalomorphae and
Araneomorphae
1. Infraorder Mygalomorphae (orthognath spiders)
Spiders in this clade move their chelicerae vertically in a stabbing motion,
and they have two pairs of lung "books".
The orthognath spiders include some of Sydney's most famous spiders-
Sydney funnel web spider - the two pairs of lung books (slight swellings
on the ophisthosoma), the stout spinnerets and the "stabbing" chelicerae,
restricted to vertical motion. This limits the form of attack: the spiders
cannot run up and bite you; they have to strike with their hind legs firmly
on the ground. Also the key features that would help you identify a funnel
web spider from a trapdoor or mouse spider. You should consider
the size of the chelicerae and the pedipalps
length of the spinnerets 
the presence/absence and location of the hind leg spur in males

2. Infraorder Araneomorphae (labidognath spiders)

Labidognath spiders move chelicerae laterally in a pincer-like movement.
These spiders have one pair of book lungs. 
Spinnerets on the abdomen, the slight paired swellings (each with
spiracle) that cover the lung books and the peculiar epigynum of the
female. The epigynum can be an elaborate protruding structure for
 receiving sperm. The male must place the sperm on this carefully and
rapidly (or he will be eaten!). He soaks a special packet of silk in sperm
and places it on the epigynum with his pedipalps.
Order Acarina (ticks and mites)
 Ticks and mites typically have a globular body. What appears to be the ‘head’ is
only the mouthparts. Mites are scavengers or ectoparasites of plants and animals
(including invertebrates) or predators, particularly on other mites. Ticks are
ectoparasites of vertebrates and are distinguished by having chelicerae fused to
form a boring and anchoring tool.
Order Scorpiones (scorpions and their allies)
 Scorpions have four pairs of book lungs on the broad part of the abdomen, an
anterior pair of "gills" modified into sensory pectines, large chelate pedipalps
like lobster claws and only two pairs gnathobases. The narrow part of the
abdomen carries a stinging telson.

Subpylum Myriapoda

 Many-segmented body plan

 Mouthparts strongly resemble those of insects

Class Chilopoda (centipedes)
 Centipedes have one pair legs per trunk segment, with the first pair of legs
(maxillipeds) as poison claws (forcipules). Most are

carnivorous. 
Class Diplopoda (millipedes)
 Millipedes are basically cylindrical in shape with apparently two pairs of legs and
two pairs of spiracles per trunk segment (diplosegments). The first trunk
segment (collum) has no legs and 2nd has only one pair. They are herbivorous or
fungivorous. Most produce noxious defensive secretions