Experiment 2: Creating a Phylum Key
Experiment 2: Creating a Phylum Key
In this experiment you will take a closer look at the characteristics that describe the eight major phyla.
Materials Table 1 | Table 2 | |
Procedure
1. Table 1 contains all of the main features of the eight major phyla discussed in the Introduction. Organize and identify which characteristics belong to which phyla. The number of rows represents the number of characteristics that fall into each phylum.
- Record your results in Table 2.
Table 1: Phylum Characteristic Table | |||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
A | Bilateral phylum with segmentation | Most have a calcium containing shell | Five-part symmetry | Specialized cell, but no tissues | Mantle of tissue covering the body |
B | Hollow body cavity for food | Three tissue layers, no body cavity | Setae used for movement | Jaws and skulls part of evolution | Complete digestive tract |
C | Parasites | Water flows through canals of body | The first to have jointed legs | The first phylum to fly | Some have stinging cells |
D | More complex because of more DNA | Body design is a tube within a tube | Tube feet | First muscle and nerves | Internal skeleton |
E | All live in the sea | Simple animals with bilateral symmetry | Entrance and exit the same in the digestive tract | All have vertebral column | Champions of variations in appendages |
F | Has the most species | Have spines covered with a thin skin | Some stationary polyps | Some are mobile medusa | Some propel using their siphon |
G | Muscular foot used to move | Stationary animal | Tubular mouth at the mid-body | Humans | Hard but flexible bodies with small plates |
H | Spicules are the skeleton | Radula used to feed | No symmetry | Exoskeleton | Their burrowing has affected the global climate |
Table 2: Phylum Taxonomic Key | |||
Porifera | Cnidaria | Platyhelminthes | Annelida |
Arthropoda | Mollusca | Echinodermata | Chordata |
Post-Lab Questions
- Were any of the features used in more than one Phyla? If so, give an example of an organism from each phyla that shares the feature.
- List three features from Table 1 that describe a Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)? Using the features you listed, determine what phyla it is classified in.
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Rating:
/5
Solution: Experiment 2: Creating a Phylum Key