Invertebrates is an umbrella term describing animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a spine or backbone), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum Vertebrata, i.e. vertebrates. Well-known phyla of invertebrates include arthropods, mollusks, annelids, echinoderms, flatworms, cnidarians and sponges.
The majority of animal species are invertebrates; one estimate puts the figure at 97%.[1] Many invertebrate taxa have a greater number and diversity of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata.[2] Invertebrates vary widely in size, from 10 μm (0.0004 in)[3] Myxozoans to the 9–10 m (30–33 ft) colossal squid.[4]
Some so-called invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata, are actually sister chordate subphyla to Vertebrata, being more closely related to vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the term "invertebrates" rather polyphyletic, so the term has little meaning in taxonomy.
^May, Robert M. (16 September 1988). "How Many Species Are There on Earth?". Science. 241 (4872): 1441–1449. Bibcode:1988Sci...241.1441M. doi:10.1126/science.241.4872.1441. JSTOR 1702670. PMID 17790039. S2CID 34992724. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
^Richards, O. W.; Davies, R.G. (1977). Imms' General Textbook of Entomology: Volume 1: Structure, Physiology and Development Volume 2: Classification and Biology. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-0-412-61390-6.
^Canning, Elizabeth U.; Okamura, Beth (1 January 2003). "Biodiversity and Evolution of the Myxozoa". Advances in Parasitology. Vol. 56. Academic Press. pp. 43–131. doi:10.1016/S0065-308X(03)56002-X. ISBN 978-0-12-031756-1. PMID 14710996.
^Roper, C.F.E. & P. Jereb (2010). Family Cranchiidae. In: P. Jereb & C.F.E. Roper (eds.) Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 2. Myopsid and Oegopsid Squids. FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes No. 4, Vol. 2. FAO, Rome. pp. 148–178.
Invertebrates is an umbrella term describing animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a spine or backbone), which...
an animal are derived from the embryonic germ layers. Those simpler invertebrates which are formed from two germ layers of ectoderm and endoderm are called...
Pain in invertebrates is a contentious issue. Although there are numerous definitions of pain, almost all involve two key components. First, nociception...
Marine invertebrates are the invertebrates that live in marine habitats. Invertebrate is a blanket term that includes all animals apart from the vertebrate...
Invertebrate zoology is the subdiscipline of zoology that consists of the study of invertebrates, animals without a backbone (a structure which is found...
Invertebrate paleontology (also spelled invertebrate palaeontology) is sometimes described as invertebrate paleozoology or invertebrate paleobiology....
Invertebrate iridescent virus 31 (IIV-31), also known informally as isopod iridovirus, is a species of invertebrate iridescent virus in the genus Iridovirus...
spreads disease-causing parasites or pathogens from one host to another. Invertebrates spread bacterial, viral and protozoan pathogens by two main mechanisms...
Society for Invertebrate Conservation (Xerces Society) is a non-profit environmental organization that focuses on the conservation of invertebrates considered...
domestication around 5,500 years ago in central Asia as a working animal. Among invertebrates, the silkworm and the western honey bee were domesticated over 5,000...
stemma or ommatidia which make up compound eyes. Additionally, not all invertebrate ocelli and ommatidium have simple photoreceptors. Many have various forms...
An exoskeleton (from Greek έξω éxō "outer" and σκελετός skeletós "skeleton") is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal to both support the body...
An aquatic animal is any animal, whether vertebrate or invertebrate, that lives in water for all or most of its lifetime. Many insects such as mosquitoes...
Text Book of Zoology: Invertebrates. Rastogi Publications. p. 184. ISBN 978-81-7133-903-7. Barnes, Robert D. (1982). Invertebrate Zoology. Holt-Saunders...
Alphairdovirinae. Most species within the Betairidovirinae are hosted by invertebrates, whereas all species within the Alphairdovirinae are hosted by 'cold-blooded'...
Blaschka sea creatures, glass marine invertebrates, Blaschka invertebrate models, and Blaschka glass invertebrates) are works of glass artists Leopold...
non-arthropod invertebrate animals, now seen to be paraphyletic. The name stems from the Old English word wyrm. Most animals called "worms" are invertebrates, but...
Autrum (ed.). Comparative Physiology and Evolution of Vision in Invertebrates- A: Invertebrate Photoreceptors. Handbook of Sensory Physiology. Vol. VII/6A...
This is a list of various species of marine invertebrates, animals without a backbone, that are commonly found in aquariums kept by hobby aquarists. Some...
larvae often live in the bodies of other animals, either vertebrates or invertebrates. For example, Diphyllobothrium has at least two intermediate hosts,...
International Society for Invertebrate Morphology (ISIM) was founded during the 1st International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, in Copenhagen, August...
equivalent to our concept of vertebrates, and animals without blood, invertebrates. He spent two years on Lesbos, observing and describing the animals...
This is a list of invertebrates, animals without a backbone, that are commonly kept in freshwater aquaria by hobby aquarists. Numerous shrimp species...
chlorocruorin are closely related giant globins found used by some invertebrates. Chlorocruorin has a special heme group, giving it different colors...
Most animal testing involves invertebrates, especially Drosophila melanogaster, a fruit fly, and Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode. These animals offer...
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals, after Arthropoda; members are known as molluscs or mollusks (/ˈmɒləsks/). Around 76,000 extant...
The Annelids are bilaterally symmetrical, triploblastic, coelomate, invertebrate organisms. They also have parapodia for locomotion. Most textbooks still...
intubation. The word trachea is used to define a very different organ in invertebrates than in vertebrates. Insects have an open respiratory system made up...
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