How Many Different Kinds Of Animals Are There
An introduction to the different types of animals that brand up the animate being kingdom Animalia.
Download the Free accompanying question canvass to exam your animal noesis!
Page Index
Use the links below to find the information you lot demand (or continue reading for a consummate overview of the animate being kingdom).
- Download the Gratis question sail
- Different Types of Animals: Introduction
- Animalia: The Animal Kingdom
- The Two 'Master' Types of Animals: Invertebrates and Vertebrates
- Basic Animate being Nomenclature
- Types of Invertebrate
- Sponges
- Flatworms
- Major types of flatworm
- Roundworms / Nematodes
- Cnidarians
- Major types of cnidarian
- Mollusks
- Notable Types Of Clam
- Arthropods
- Insects
- Notable Types Of Insect
- Crustaceans
- Notable Types Of Crustacean
- Arachnids
- Notable Types Of Arachnid
- Types of Vertebrate
- Fish
- Notable Fish Groups
- Amphibians
- Major Types Of Amphibian
- Reptiles
- Major Types Of Reptile
- Birds
- Notable Types Of Bird
- Mammals
- Major Mammal Groups
- Related Pages On Agile Wild
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Different Types Of Animals: Introduction
On this page is a list of the main types of animals. Rather than looking at individual species such as 'tiger' or 'monarch butterfly', this is a list of the major groups of animals.
- If you lot want information on hundreds of individual species, including 'tiger' and 'monarch butterfly', then check out this folio: A To Z Animals With Pictures & Facts
Offset nosotros take a wait at the two principal types of brute: invertebrates and vertebrates. Nosotros then await at smaller groups within these larger groups.
For each type of brute, you lot'll find links to more information almost even smaller groups and notable species within each group.
This folio is an overview of the main types of animals; in that location are many other animal groups, both living and extinct!
Nosotros hope you lot enjoy this exploration of the animal kingdom. If you lot have any questions and so feel free to inquire in the comments section at the human foot of the page.
Animalia: The Beast Kingdom
An organism is a living thing. If we think of every unmarried organism on Earth existence part of one big group, then that group can be split into smaller groups of organisms that are more like each other than they are to other organisms.
Animalia – the fauna kingdom – is one of several large groups of living things.
Animals take a item gear up of characteristics that separates them from other organisms such as plants, fungi and bacteria.
Other kingdoms include Plantae – the establish kingdom, and Fungi, the kingdom that contains organisms such as mushrooms and molds.
Characteristics of animals include: beingness multicellular (i.e. they consist of more than one jail cell); being able to move (for at least part of their lives); breathing oxygen; reproducing sexually; and being unable to produce their own nutrient (i.e. they tin can't get free energy from sunlight).
The animal kingdom is divided into many smaller groups. On this page nosotros will take a wait at some of the different types of animals and their characteristics. We'll concentrate on the main fauna groups, but will also have a look at a number of notable smaller animal types.
Different Types Of Animals
The 2 'Main' Types of Animals: Invertebrates and Vertebrates
At that place are two main types of animal: invertebrates and vertebrates. Invertebrates are animals that don't have a backbone; vertebrates are animals that do.
Of the ane.4 1000000 or so known fauna species, around 95% (or more than) are invertebrates. Of these, almost ane meg are insects.
Only around 5% of known animals are chordates (chordates are animals that either take a backbone, or a similar structure known as a notochord).
Unlike vertebrates, invertebrates don't actually form a unmarried group of related animals. In fact, some invertebrates are more closely related to vertebrates than they are to other invertebrates.
Although the discussion 'invertebrates' isn't an 'official' animal group, it does form a useful distinction between ii very unlike types of animals. Because of this, we've separated the animal groups on this folio into invertebrates and vertebrates.
Animal Classification Basics
A 'kingdom' such as the animal kingdom or the plant kingdom consists of groups of organisms that share certain characteristics.
A kingdom tin can itself exist divided into smaller groups of organisms that are more closely-related to each other than they are to other organisms.
Each of these smaller groups can then be further divided into even smaller groups of organisms that are fifty-fifty more than closely-related. This continues until we get right downward to private species.
(In fact, even an individual species tin get divided into smaller groups, called subspecies. The domestic canis familiaris, for example, is a subspecies of gray wolf.)
The scientific discipline of placing species into groups is known as taxonomy. Each taxonomic stage, or 'rank' has its own name. From kingdom to species, the bones taxonomic ranks are: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family and species.
- You can detect out more most animal classification on this page: Animal Classification
Types of Animals: Invertebrates
Below is a selection of the major types of invertebrates.
Sponges
- Phylum: Porifera
Looking like bulbous, hollow plants, sponges are among the most basic of all animals. They lack a nervous arrangement and a breadbasket, and most species are capable of movement but in their juvenile class.
There are betwixt half-dozen,000 and 9,000 known species of sponge (as with many areas of taxonomy, at that place is a not bad deal of discrepancy betwixt data on the exact number of sponges). Near all sponges are found in marine habitats, although there are a small number of freshwater sponges.
Sponges are filter feeders. Inside a sponge's torso are cells with whip-like projections called flagella. The movement of the flagella causes water to motility through the sponge. The sponge feeds on microorganisms contained within the water.
One of the first scientists to realize that sponges were animals rather than plants was Aristotle.
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Flatworms
- Phylum: Platyhelminthes
The species in the phylum Platyhelminthes are also known equally flatworms. These invertebrate animals range in size from microscopic species to tapeworms that can exist up to 25m (82 ft.) in length.
Flatworms lack a body cavity, and have neither a circulatory nor a respiratory system. They are the simplest animals to exhibit 'bilateral symmetry' (i.e. to have bodies that are symmetrical). Flatworms have existed for hundreds of millions of years and were the first carnivorous hunters.
Many living flatworms are parasitic. They make their way into a host organism and feed on its body from the inside. This tin can be harmful and even mortiferous to the host animal.
Often the eggs of parasitic flatworms are eaten by a modest animal, in whose torso the flatworm undergoes the first stage of its development. When the smaller host beast is eaten by a larger fauna, the flatworm sets up a permanent dwelling in its new host. It feeds off the host animal and also lays its eggs in the host's body. These are passed by the host beast and the cycle begins again.
Some flatworms make their way through more than one host before embedding themselves in their final host.
Major types of flatworm:
- Course Turbellaria – free-moving, non-parasitic flatworms
- Class Cestoda – tapeworms and related species, all parasitic
- Clade Trematoda – flukes, all parasitic
- Course Monogenea – parasites that live infest the outside of a host species' trunk
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Roundworms / Nematodes
- Phylum: Nematoda
Roundworms have long, cylindrical bodies. While well-nigh are microscopic, some can reach lengths of 13m (42.6ft.). Effectually 3,500 roundworm species are currently recognized, just some biologists believe that the bodily number of species is closer to 40,000 or more.
Ane of the largest roundworms is Placentonema gigantissima. It is a parasite that lives in the placenta of a sperm whale.
Different flatworms, who use the same opening both to accept in nutrient and to expel waste, roundworms have a more developed digestive system which has carve up openings for each task.
At that place are very few ecosystems on World in which roundworms are not present. These adaptable animals are establish in polar, mountainous, tundra and desert regions and well every bit underground and on the sea bed.
There are more individual roundworms than whatsoever other type of animal. It is estimated that there are 5 billion roundworms in every acre of fertile garden soil; 60 billion roundworms for each living person; and that roundworms business relationship for 80% of all living animals.
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Cnidarians
- Phylum: Cnidaria
The phylum Cnidaria includes animals such as corals, sea anemones and jellyfish. They accept soft bodies with radial symmetry (i.e. they are symmetrical around a key indicate, with no 'back' or 'forepart' side).
Cnidarians such as corals and sea anemones permanently attach themselves to underwater surfaces after a short gratis-swimming larval stage. Others, such as jellyfish and the Portuguese man o' war, are free-swimming fifty-fifty in adulthood.
All cnidarians are carnivores. They are equipped with cells called cnidocytes, which deploy venom via a minute spear-similar structure. Cnidocytes are adjusted for capturing casualty, and for defense force against predators. It is these cells that are responsible for a jellyfish's painful sting.
Major Types of Cnidarian
- Grade Anthozoa (ocean anemones and corals)
- Class Scyphozoa (jellyfish)
- Grade Cubozoa (box jellyfish)
- Course Hydrozoa (a grouping of related animals that includes colonial species such as the Portuguese homo o' war)
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Mollusks
- Phylum: Mollusca
The phylum Mollusca, whose members are known as mollusks (spelt molluscs in British English), contains both the largest and the most intelligent invertebrates. This group contains animals as various as oysters and octopuses.
The Catalogue of Life (link) currently lists 65,442 species of mollusk, although other estimates advise that around 85 thousand species are recognized.
Bivalves such every bit oysters and clams, gastropods such as snails and slugs, and cephalopods such as octopuses, squid and cuttlefish are all mollusks.
All mollusks take a drape, which is a thick muscular wall that contains respiratory and other organs. In cephalopods, the mantle also functions as a jet, which pushes the creature through the water.
The colossal squid is the largest living mollusk. Information technology reaches an estimated length of effectually xiv m (46 ft.) and is found in the Southern ocean.
Octopuses are the most intelligent invertebrates. They have been observed using tools, solving problems and even playing – a behavior associated with intelligence.
Notable Types Of Clam
- Class Bivalvia – bivalves (oysters, clams, cockles, mussels and related species)
- Grade Gastropoda – gastropods (slugs and snails)
- Class Cephalopoda – cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopuses)
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Arthropods
- Phylum: Arthropoda
Arthropods are a huge and diverse grouping of animals. There are over a million known species in the phylum Arthropoda, which contains all insects, crustaceans, arachnids, horseshoe crabs and myriapods (centipedes & millipedes) equally well as several other invertebrate groups.
The proper noun 'arthropod' means 'jointed foot'. All arthropods have segmented bodies, paired jointed appendages (i.e. legs, antennae, etc.) and hard exoskeletons.
Below nosotros look in more than detail at some notable arthropod groups.
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Insects
- Class: Insecta
Insects are idea to have appeared during the Silurian Period, betwixt 443.8–419.2 million years ago. (That's over 200 million years before dinosaurs!)
The first known insect is Rhyniognatha hirsti, which resembled a modern-twenty-four hours silverfish and walked the World 396 million years ago.
Today insects are by far the largest single group of animals in terms of number of species. Over 1 meg insect species have been described (i.eastward. named and scientifically accepted equally being an private species).
There are more than than 3 times known insect species than in that location are known plant species. Insects make up more half of all known organisms.
In short, there are a lot of dissimilar types of insects!
Characteristics of all insects include: a hard exoskeleton, a body comprising three parts: head, thorax and abdomen, 3 pairs of jointed legs, a single pair of antennae and a pair of compound eyes.
The largest group (in terms of number of species) inside Insecta is Coleoptera – the beetles. At that place are over 320,000 recognized species of beetle.
The world'due south largest insect is the larval stage of the Goliath protrude Goliathus goliatus. The behemothic weta Deinacrida heteracantha – a behemothic, flightless cricket found in New Zealand – vies with the elephant beetles and Goliath beetles for the title of heaviest adult insect.
The world's smallest insect is the parasitic wasp Dicopomorpha echmepterygis, which is institute in the United States.
Notable Types Of Insect
- Society Coleoptera – beetles
- Order Diptera – flies
- Order Hymenoptera – wasps, bees and ants
- Club Mantodea – mantises
- Society Lepidoptera – collywobbles and moths
- Order Blattodea – cockroaches and termites
- Club Odonata – dragonflies
Discover More than
- Y'all can find out more about insects on this page: Insects: The Ultimate Guide
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Crustaceans
- Subphylum: Crustacea
With around 67,000 species, Crustacea is one of the largest arthropod groups. Crustaceans are extremely varied; the group includes crabs, lobsters, shrimps, krill, woodlice and barnacles. Most crustaceans live in h2o, but some – including woodlice – are found on country.
Typical crustacean characteristics include a segmented body with a hard exoskeleton, 2 pairs of antennae and a pair of compound optics, which are often mounted on stalks.
A characteristic of crustaceans not seen in other arthropods is the presence of 'biramous limbs'. These are limbs that branch into ii. A crustacean'southward second pair of antennae may also exist biramous.
The earth's smallest crustacean is the tiny marine parasite Tantulacus dieteri, which has a body length of 85 micrometers (0.0033 in). This miniature crustacean, which infests other small-scale marine crustaceans, may be the world'due south smallest arthropod. (Some mites of class Arachnida are equally as tiny.)
The largest crustacean is the Japanese spider crab, which has a maximum claw to claw length of 5.five meters (18 ft.).
The heaviest crustacean is the American lobster, Homarus americanus. With a mass of over 20 kg (44 lb.), it is too the world's heaviest arthropod.
Notable Types Of Crustacean
- Social club Euphausiacea – krill
- Infraorder Brachyura – crabs
- Suborder Oniscidea – woodlice
- Infraorder Astacidea – lobsters, crayfish and related animals
- Infraclass Cirripedia – barnacles
Discover More
- Yous can find out more about crustaceans on this page: Crustaceans: The Ultimate Guide
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Arachnids
- Grade: Arachnida
The best-known arachnids are spiders, merely this arthropod group as well includes scorpions, camel spiders, mites, ticks and other types of animals.
Arachnids accept iv pairs of legs, and a farther two pairs of appendages positioned virtually the mouth.
These additional appendages have a number of different uses depending on the species. The pair closest to the rima oris are known as chelicerae. These are the arachnid'south 'jaws'. A spider's chelicerae are hollow and are used to inject venom.
The second pair of appendages are known as 'pedipalps'. A spider's pedipalps are antennae-like sense organs, and too play a part in reproduction. A scorpion's pedipalps have adapted into pincers for manipulating prey.
Spiders are the largest arachnid group, with around 48,000 recognized species.
Notable Types Of Arachnid
- Bracket Acari – mites and ticks
- Social club Opiliones – harvestmen / daddy longlegs
- Order Solifugae – camel spiders / wind scorpions / solifuges
- Gild Araneae – spiders
- Social club Scorpiones – scorpions
Discover More
- You lot tin detect out more about arachnids on this page: Arachnids: The Ultimate Guide
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Types of Animals: Vertebrates
A vertebrate is an animal with a backbone.
We're vertebrates; if y'all rub your dorsum y'all'll probably be able to feel your backbone. Having a backbone is something we share not just with our closest relatives in the animal kingdom (the apes) only with every bird, reptile, mammal, amphibian and fish.
Unlike the invertebrates, vertebrates are part of a recognized biological group: the subphylum Vertebrata. (A subphylum is a subgroup of a phylum; Vertebrata is part of the phylum Chordata.)
This means that every animal with a backbone shares the same antecedent. Fish were the offset animals to develop backbones, so in the family tree of every vertebrate (including humans) is a fish!
Fish
- Superclass Osteichthyes (bony fish)
- Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish)
The beginning fish appeared in the Cambrian Period, around 500 million years ago. They were the first vertebrates, and the ancestors of all other vertebrates. Somewhere way dorsum in your own family tree is a fish!
Note: in biological science, the word 'fish' applies to a single fish, or a group of the aforementioned species of fish. The discussion 'fishes' is used for a grouping of fish that contains multiple species.
Today there are two master fish groups: the bony fishes (Osteichthyes) and the cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes).
There are also two other, smaller, fish groups: the hagfish (class Myxini) and the lampreys (gild Petromyzontiformes). These last two groups form a subgroup of Vertebrata known equally the 'jawless fishes'.
Bony fish, as the name suggests, accept skeletons fabricated of bone. There are two primary types of bony fish: the Actinopterygii, or ray-finned fishes, and the Sarcopterygii, or lobe-finned fishes.
The ray-finned fishes, with over 32,000 known species, account for the vast bulk of living fish. Their fins are sparse and supported by spiny basic. Most ray-finned fish have swim-bladders. These gas-filled sacs regulate buoyancy.
The fins of lobe-finned fish are fleshy, and extend from the body on curt stalks. Lobe-finned fish are the ancestors of all not-fish vertebrates, including mammals.
Very few living species of lobe-finned fish remain. Those that practise include the coelacanths and the lungfish.
Cartilaginous fish include the sharks, rays, skates and sawfish. Their skeletons are made not of os, simply of a natural substance called cartilage. The whale shark is not only the earth's largest shark, but also the earth's largest fish.
Notable Fish Groups
- Class Actinopterygii – ray-finned fishes
- Class Sarcopterygii – lobe-finned fishes
- Subclass Elasmobranchii – (sharks, rays, skates, sawfish)
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Amphibians
- Course Amphibia
Amphibians evolved from four-footed animals known as tetrapods, which themselves had evolved from lobe-finned fishes. (Another branch of tetrapods, Amniota, are the ancestors of all living reptiles, birds and mammals.)
The early amphibians were the ascendant animals on land. Large crocodile-like amphibians preyed on fish and other aquatic animals.
This changed when the amniotes evolved the power to lay eggs on land. Once freed from their reliance on water for reproduction, early reptiles and the ancestors of mammals became the dominant state animals.
Today at that place are three main types of amphibians: the Anura (frogs and toads), Urodela (salamanders), and Apoda (caecilians).
Characteristics of amphibians include: eggs laid in water, an aquatic larval phase, moist pare capable of gas exchange, a terrestrial (land-habitation) developed stage. (Some amphibians have evolved means of fugitive the larval stage and requite birth to live immature. Others retain their gills and remain aquatic even in machismo.)
Major Types Of Amphibian
- Guild Anura (frogs and toads)
- Order Urodela (salamanders)
- Lodge Apoda (caecilians)
Find More than
- You can find out more than almost amphibians on this page: Amphibians: The Ultimate Guide
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Reptiles
- Class Reptilia
Reptiles are cold-blooded animals that descended from a grouping of animals called tetrapods, which themselves had evolved from lobe-finned fish. Most reptiles lay eggs, but some give nascency to live immature.
During the Mesozoic Era reptiles became the dominant country animals, only their reign was ended by the meteor strike which acquired the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Consequence.
Living reptile groups include: Testudines (turtles and tortoises); Rhynchocephalia (the tuatara); Squamata (lizards and snakes); and Crocodilia (crocodiles, gavials, caimans, and alligators).
The world's largest reptile is the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). Reaching lengths of up to six grand (20 ft.), this fearsome species is institute in Commonwealth of australia and Southeast Asia.
There are merely over 10,000 known reptile species. By far the largest group of reptiles (in terms of number of the number of species it contains) is Squamata.
Some scientists consider birds to be reptiles as they are the direct descendants of the dinosaurs. The inclusion of birds into Reptilia would roughly double the number of known reptiles.
Major Types Of Reptile
- Lodge Testudines (turtles and tortoises)
- Order Rhynchocephalia (the tuatara)
- Gild Squamata (lizards and snakes)
- Order Crocodilia (crocodiles, gavials, caimans, and alligators)
Observe More
- You can notice out more nearly reptiles on this page: Reptiles: The Ultimate Guide
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Birds
- Class Aves
Non all dinosaurs became extinct in the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event. Birds are direct descended from dinosaurs, and for this reason many scientists consider birds to exist dinosaurs.
Today, in that location are around x,000 known bird species. They range in size from the tiny bee hummingbird to the common ostrich.
The vast majority of living birds belong to the infraclass Neognathae. Simply 60 species belong to the other main bird group, Palaeognathae. These include the tinamous of the Americas and the flightless kiwis, cassowaries, emu, rheas and ostriches.
Characteristics of modern birds include having feathers, toothless bills, forelimbs modified into wings, and laying eggs.
The first true birds appeared during the Cretaceous Flow. During this time they would have shared the sky with the first flying vertebrates – the Pterosaurs.
Notable Types Of Bird
- Order Accipitriformes – birds of prey: hawks, eagles kites
- Order Anseriformes – waterfowl: ducks, geese, swans & related species
- Order Charadriiformes – gulls, auks & waders
- Lodge Galliformes – gamefowl: turkeys, chickens, partridges, pheasants & related species
- Order Passeriformes – perching birds / songbirds
- Lodge Piciformes – woodpeckers
- Order Psittaciformes – parrots
- Order Strigiformes – owls
Discover More
- Yous can detect out more about birds on this folio: Birds: The Ultimate Guide
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Mammals
- Form Mammalia
The start truthful mammals offset appeared during the Tardily Triassic, effectually 200 to 227 one thousand thousand years ago. While sharing Earth with the dinosaurs, the early on mammals were past necessity small and nocturnal.
The Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event spelt the finish of the dinosaurs' reign. With the dinosaurs gone, mammals quickly became the dominant land animals. They evolved to fill many different niches, fifty-fifty returning to the sea in the shape of whales and dolphins.
Characteristics of mammals include: having hair, giving birth to live young (simply 5 species of mammal, the monotremes, lay eggs), beingness warm-blooded, animate air with lungs, and having mammary glands.
There are three main types of mammal: monotremes (Monotremata), marsupials (Marsupialia), and placental mammals (Placentalia).
The monotremes, which consist of four species of echidna and the platypus, are the only living egg-laying mammals.
Marsupials are also known as 'pouched mammals'. Their young are born in a relatively undeveloped state. They undergo further development in a special pouch in the mother's torso, where they accept access to milk.
Placental mammals give nascency to young at a later stage of evolution than marsupials. While in the womb a developing placental mammal is supplied with nutrients via an organ known as a placenta. The placenta also handles gas-commutation and removes waste products.
Major Mammal Groups
- Lodge Artiodactyla – even-toed ungulates: cattle, pigs, sheep, deer, antelopes, giraffes, camels, hippopotamuses and related species
- Infraorder Cetacea (part of Artiodactyla): whales, porpoises, dolphins
- Social club Carnivora: dogs, cats, seals, weasels, bears & related species
- Order Chiroptera: bats
- Order Diprotodontia: kangaroos, possums, wombats & related species
- Lodge Lagomorpha: rabbits, hares & related species
- Club Monotremata: echidnas, platypus
- Order Perissodactyla – odd-toed ungulates: horses, rhinoceroses, tapirs
- Order Primates: lemurs, galagoes, monkeys, apes & related species
- Order Rodentia: rodents
Notice More
- You tin can find out more about mammals on this page: Mammals: The Ultimate Guide
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Types of Animals: Conclusion
We promise that you've enjoyed this overview of the animal kingdom and meeting many different types of animals. If y'all have any questions so experience costless to ask them in the comments section at the foot of the page.
Observe More With Active Wild
Keep your exploration of Animalia by visiting the pages beneath:
- Animals: The Ultimate Guide To The Animal Kingdom
- Amphibians: The Ultimate Guide
- Reptiles: The Ultimate Guide
- Birds: The Ultimate Guide
- Mammals: The Ultimate Guide
- A to Z Animals With Pictures & Facts
Source: https://www.activewild.com/types-of-animals/
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