BIOL 102 – Lecture (X) 29

Invertebrate life on land

Syd Ramdhani
ramdhani@ukzn.ac.za
Office: 04-020
Biology Building
 Learning outcomes
• Characters related to arthropods success
• Subphyla
• Diagnostic features
• Insect - plant relationships
• Co-evolution

Chapter 33
 Arthropods
• Cambrian explosion: 535 – 525 mya
• > million species
• Most successful land animals

https://smartsite.ucdavis.edu/access/content/user/00002950/courses/sites/16arthropods.html
Body Plan
• Segmented body
• Hard exoskeleton
• Jointed appendages Trilobite

Early Arthropods show little variation in segmentation

• segment united form body
regions Figure 33.29

• specialized for feeding,

walking, swimming
• diverse body plant arose
due to changes in
sequence and regulation of
existing Hox genes
• rather than acquisition of
new genes
• Hox genes – related genes
• specify regions of BP of
embryo along head to tail Data from J. K. Grenier et al., Evolution of the entire
arthropod Hox gene set predated the origin and
axis of animals radiation of the onychophoran/arthropod clade, Current
Biology 7:547–553 (1997).
External anatomy

• modified appendages
• Walking, feeding, sensory reception,
reproduction, defense
• appendages jointed & paired
• completely covered with cuticle
• which is an exoskeleton
• layers of protein and polysaccharide chitin
• rigid – protection
• provides points of attachment for muscles
• exoskeleton sheds during growth
• grow by shedding (molting) of the
exoskeleton
• evolution of exoskeleton allowed
Arthropods to be amongst first
animal to colonise land
• prevent water loss & desiccation
• provides structural support without
buoyancy of water
• eyes, olfactory receptors, antennae
• function in sight, smell and touch
• terrestrial spp. have internal surfaces
• specialized for gas exchange
• e.g. insect tracheal system
• air filled tubes – O2 and CO2 travel
 Phylum Arthropoda
• living extant Arthropods
• different groups = Subphyla
• diverge early in phylum’s evolution
• Chelicerates (sea spider, horse shoe
crabs, scorpions, ticks, mites,
spiders)
• Myriapoda (centipedes and
millipedes)
• Hexapoda (insects – ants
cochroaches, butterflies, flies
• Crustacea (wood lice terrestrial). No.
of non-aquatic spp, low
• focus on first three subphyla
 Phylum Arthropoda
• Common features
• segmented bodies
• exoskeleton made of chitin
• pairs of jointed legs
(numbers vary with
subphyla)
• must molt or shed off
exoskeleton to grow
• tracheal system - gas
exchange (CO2 and O2)
 Subphylum Myriapoda
• all terrestrial
• centipedes & millipedes
• pair of antennae
• three pairs appendage
modified as mouth parts Millipede
• colonized land > 410 mya
Centipede
• only after land colonized by
plants (feed on plant material)
 Subphylum Myriapoda
• body = head & trunk with
many legs
• millipedes = detritivores
• feed on decaying plant matter
• 2 pairs legs per body segment
• centipedes = predators Millipede

• poison claws foremost

Centipede
segments: prey capture &
defense
• 1 pair legs per body segment
 Chelicerata: Arachnida
• have claw like feeding appendages =
chelicerae
• marine chelicerates - mostly extinct
• surviving groups - sea spiders,
horseshoe crab
• most modern chelicerates are
Arachnids
• spiders, scorpions, ticks & mites
• spiders & scorpions = predators
• ticks = parasites
• mites = predators, parasites &
herbivores
Tick
 Chelicerata: Arachnida

• arachnids
• body = cephalothorax &
abdomen
• six pairs of appendages
• chalicerae
• pedipalps – sensing, feeding, defence, reproduction
• 4 pairs of walking legs
• specialized mouth parts
• spiders = fang-like structure with venom/poison glands
 Chelicerata: Arachnida
• most spiders
• book lungs for gas exchange
• stacked, plate like structures
• large surface area for respiration
• produce silk – specialise abdominal glands (silk gland)
• silk web catch prey (food)
• drop line - rapid escape
• cover for eggs
• gift wrap for male courtship
offerings
• transport - ballooning
 Subphylum Hexapoda

• Insects & relatives Mosquito

• Insects - most terrestrial habitats &
freshwater
• rare in marine habitats
• include herbivores, predators,
parasites & saprophages (= sessile)
• large species diversity
Human louse
• outnumber all other life forms
• dominate all habitats
• except sea (crustaceans rule)
 Subphylum Hexapoda

Mosquito
• body = head, thorax & abdomen
• 3 pairs of legs on thorax
• wings in most cases

Human louse
 Subphylum Hexapoda
• complex external & internal organ systems
• internal & external anatomy
 Subphylum Hexapoda
• oldest insect fossil ~ 415
million years
• diversification ~ 359-252 mya
• follows flight evolution
• flight = evade predators,
locate food & mates,
dispersal new habitats
• wings extension of cuticle
• enable flight with sacrificing
pair of walking legs
 Subphylum Hexapoda
• Insect radiations ~ diversification in food plants
• e.g. diversification following rise of Gymnosperms during
Carboniferous
• also diversification following rise & expansion of
Angiosperms during mid-Cretaceous

López-Estrada et al. 2019

 Terrestrial Arthropods

Challenges of life on land &

evolved coping strategies &
mechanisms
 Challenges of life on land
• temperatures much higher than
in sea
• heat increases risk of drying
out (desiccation)
• affects breathing due to water
loss from moist diffusion surfaces
• affects reproduction due to high
mortality of egg & sperm outside
body
• gills & external fertilization won’t
work as in water
 Overcoming challenges on
land?
• millipedes & insects breathe via
tracheal system = internal tubes
• open to outside via spiracles
• supply O2 to organs via
diffusion
• has implications for size
• internal fertilization
• sperm transferred into
female’s body during contact
System relies on
= internal fertilization diffusion of gases
 Mating challenges…
• Spiders & scorpions = aggressive
predators
• risk of mating partners eating each
other before sperm transfer
• Strategies
• males may deposit sperm packet
on ground for females to pick up
• spermatheca stores sperm after
mating Sperm
• have elaborate courtship to packet
confirm species identity & obtain
permission to approach & mate
 Insect flight
• Insects = only arthropods to
evolve flight
• Dragonflies = first flying
insects & appeared 300 mya
• Advantages of flight
• escape from predators
• easier access to food (e.g. tall
plants)
• finding mates (outbreeding
promotes genetic variation)
• rapid dispersal to new habitats
 Insect-plant relationships
• close relationships led to co-radiations
• radiation in plants = radiation in
insects (rise of gymnosperms &
angiosperms)
• Insects feed extensively on plants
• plants evolved defences for
protection (e.g. toxic chemicals)
• insects evolved ways of coping with
defences (e.g. immunity & using
toxins for own defence)
• continual ‘struggle’ between insects
& plants = co-evolution
• co-evolution = reciprocal evolution in
two interacting species
 Insect-plant relationships
• Mutual dependency
Long tongued flies
(mutualisms)
• insect pollination = more effective
than wind pollination
• pollinating insects rewarded with
nectar & pollen
• cross pollination promotes
Ants & acacia trees
genetic variation = raw material
for evolution (plants)
• some insects (e.g. ants) protect Shelter

plants from larger herbivores for Food

food & shelter