Portal:Arthropods

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Arthropods make up the largest phylum of animals (Phylum Arthropoda) and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. 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, and includes various symbiotic and parasitic forms. They range in size from microscopic plankton (~¼ mm) up to forms several metres across. 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 protects against trauma and desiccation. They shed this covering periodically when moulting.

Examples of the five arthropod subphyla
Two fossilised trilobites in a limestone slab.
Trilobitomorpha:
Kainops invius
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Chelicerata:
Eriophora transmarina
A brown centipede with yellow legs and red antennae faces the viewer.
Myriapoda:
Scolopendra cingulata
A small fly with red eyes.
Hexapoda:
Drosophila melanogaster
A stocky crab with large claws.
Crustacea:
Cancer pagurus
Read more ...

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Fossil specimen of an arthropod. The segmented tail curls upwards, behind a stout carapace which conceals the bases of numerous appendages.
Waptia fieldensis is an extinct species of arthropod from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of Canada. It grew to a length of about 8 cm (3 in) and resembled modern shrimp in both morphology and habit. It had a large bivalved carapace and a segmented body terminating into a pair of tail flaps. It was an active swimmer, feeding on organic particles it gathers from the seafloor substrate.

Based on the number of individuals, Waptia fieldensis is the third most abundant arthropod from the Burgess Shale Formation, with thousands of specimens collected. It was among the first fossils found by the American paleontologist Charles D. Walcott in 1909. He described it in 1912 and named it after two mountains near the discovery site – Mount Wapta and Mount Field.

Waptia fieldensis is the only species classified under the genus Waptia. Although it bears a remarkable resemblance to modern crustaceans, its taxonomic affinities remain unclear. It is currently classified as a stem group crustacean and tentatively included in the clade Crustaceomorpha.

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A pink segmented animal with extensive black shading with its head inside a snail's shell.
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A scorpion against a white background.
Cscr-featured.svg Credit: JJ Harrison

Cercophonius squama, commonly known as the forest scorpion or wood scorpion, is a scorpion native to southeastern Australia, and is the only scorpion in Tasmania.

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† indicates an extinct taxon.

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Template:/box-header Here are some tasks you can do:

  • Start a new article. Arthropods cover an huge range of taxa and other topics, so there will always be plenty of missing articles. Some which have been explicitly requested are listed here.
  • Clean up existing articles. Lists of articles needing cleanup are available either grouped by the work needed or ungrouped.
  • Expand an existing article. Existing articles are often incomplete and missing information on key aspects of the topic. It is particularly important that the most widely read articles be broad in their scope. Wikipedia:WikiProject Arthropods/Popular pages (updated monthly) shows the number of views each article gets, along with assessments of its quality and importance. Articles with higher importance ratings and greater numbers of views are the priority for article improvements, but almost all our articles would benefit from expansion. Stubs can be found in Category:Arthropod stubs and its subcategories.

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Template:/box-header To display subcategories, click on the triangle:

Arthropods
► Arthropod anatomy
► Arthropod morphology
Arthropod stubs

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