Defining Features of Animal and Plant Phylums

Animalia - Chordata
• Hollow nerve chord running dorsally
• Gill clefts in the pharynx (at some point in their life history)
• Notochord (at some point in their life history)

Animalia - Echinodermata
• Bilaterally symmetrical as larvae but show five-rayed symmetry as
adults
• Calcareous endoskeleton
• Water vascular system

Animalia - Mollusca
• Usually unsegmented

Animalia - Anthropoda
• Segmentented
• Invertebrate
• Thickened chitinous cuticle forming a exoskeleton

Animalia - Annelidia
• Segmented
• Soft, elongated body
• Muscular body wall
• Blood system
• Nervous system

Animalia – Nematoda
• Slender
• Unsegmented
• Circular (in a cross section)
•

Animalia – Platyhelminthes
• Dorsoventrally flattened
• Bilaterally symmetrical
• Epidermis and gut separated by a solid mass of tissue

Animalia – Cnidaria
• Only one opening to the gut
• Radially symmetrical

Thomas Sturges – Allard A2 Level Biology

Bishop Ramsey 6th Form Plant Growth Substances
 • Simple two-layered body with a primitive nerve net between the two
layers
• Stinging cells on the tentacles fringing the mouth

Animalia – Porifera
• Simple body enclosing a single central cavity or penetrated by many
inter-connecting cavities
• Body wall consists of an outer layer of epithelium separated from an
inner layer of ciliated choanocytes by a mesogloeal layer
• No nerve cells
• No muscle cells

Plantae – Angiospermophyta
• Reproductive organs are carried in flowers
• Stamens and carpels are typically surrounded by sterile leaves (petals
and sepals)

Plantae – Coniferophyta
• Simple, often needle-like leaves
• Bear megasporangia in cones (usually)

Plantae – Filiconophta
• Have roots, stems and large leaves
• Fronds (large leaves) bear the sporangia

Plantae – Bryophyta
• Non-vascular
• Either thaloid or differentiated into stems and leaves

Thomas Sturges – Allard A2 Level Biology

Bishop Ramsey 6th Form Plant Growth Substances