What is the meaning of Ecdysozoa?
Ecdysozoans are a morphologically heterogeneous group of animals which have a cuticle and grow by molting and include the arthropods and nematodes.
What is Ecdysozoa hypothesis?
The implication of the Ecdysozoa hypothesis is that the type of segmentation found in annelids and arthropods must be either convergent or an ancestral feature of protostomes or even bilaterians.
What is the unique attribute that defines the Ecdysozoa?
The most distinguishing and prominent feature of Ecdysozoans is their cuticle: a tough, but flexible exoskeleton that protects these animals from water loss, predators, and other aspects of the external environment. All members of this superphylum periodically molt or shed their cuticle as they grow.
Are sea stars Ecdysozoa?
SUBPHYLUM Asterozoa (free-moving echinoderms with flattened, star-shaped bodies): CLASS Asteroidea (sea stars, also called starfish) These familiar sea creatures are predators that move about with five radial arms. The arms touch one another at their base of attachment to the central disk.
Are insects Ecdysozoa?
The Ecdysozoa comprise one of the major groups within the animal kingdom, and it is also the largest since it includes both the arthropods (insects, spiders, and crustaceans) and the nematodes.
What is shedding of old skin called?
molt, also spelled Moult, biological process of molting (moulting)—i.e., the shedding or casting off of an outer layer or covering and the formation of its replacement.
What does echinoderm mean in Greek?
The word “echinoderm” is made up from Greek ἐχινόδερμα, “spiny skin”, cf. ἐχῖνος, “hedgehog; sea-urchin” and δέρμα, “skin”, echinodérmata being the Greek plural form. The echinoderms are important both biologically and geologically.
Does Ecdysozoa have lophophore?
Ecdysozoans have the ability to shed their exoskeleton several times throughout their life span, whereas lophotrochozoan are the animals who possess a trochophore larvae and a feeding structure called lophophore. Unlike the lophotrochozoan, ecdysozoans possess a special steroid hormone called ecdysteroids.