What Are The 5 Classifications Of Animals
An introduction to the different types of animals that make up the fauna kingdom Animalia.
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Page Index
Use the links below to find the data yous need (or continue reading for a complete overview of the animal kingdom).
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- Unlike Types of Animals: Introduction
- Animalia: The Animal Kingdom
- The Two 'Main' Types of Animals: Invertebrates and Vertebrates
- Basic Beast Classification
- Types of Invertebrate
- Sponges
- Flatworms
- Major types of flatworm
- Roundworms / Nematodes
- Cnidarians
- Major types of cnidarian
- Mollusks
- Notable Types Of Mollusk
- 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 Active Wild
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Unlike 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 desire information on hundreds of individual species, including 'tiger' and 'monarch butterfly', then bank check out this folio: A To Z Animals With Pictures & Facts
Offset nosotros take a expect at the two main types of animal: invertebrates and vertebrates. We and then look at smaller groups within these larger groups.
For each type of beast, you'll discover links to more information well-nigh even smaller groups and notable species within each grouping.
This page is an overview of the main types of animals; there are many other animal groups, both living and extinct!
We hope you enjoy this exploration of the creature kingdom. If you have any questions and then feel free to ask in the comments department at the human foot of the folio.
Animalia: The Animal Kingdom
An organism is a living thing. If we think of every single organism on Earth being part of one large group, then that group can be split up 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 have a detail set of characteristics that separates them from other organisms such as plants, fungi and bacteria.
Other kingdoms include Plantae – the institute kingdom, and Fungi, the kingdom that contains organisms such as mushrooms and molds.
Characteristics of animals include: being multicellular (i.e. they consist of more than than 1 prison cell); existence able to move (for at least part of their lives); breathing oxygen; reproducing sexually; and existence unable to produce their own nutrient (i.e. they tin't get free energy from sunlight).
The animal kingdom is divided into many smaller groups. On this page we will take a expect at some of the different types of animals and their characteristics. We'll concentrate on the main beast groups, but will also take a expect at a number of notable smaller beast types.
Different Types Of Animals
The Two '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.iv million or and then known creature species, around 95% (or more than) are invertebrates. Of these, almost i million are insects.
Only effectually 5% of known animals are chordates (chordates are animals that either take a backbone, or a like construction known as a notochord).
Unlike vertebrates, invertebrates don't really form a unmarried group of related animals. In fact, some invertebrates are more than closely related to vertebrates than they are to other invertebrates.
Although the word 'invertebrates' isn't an 'official' animal group, information technology does course a useful distinction between two very different types of animals. Because of this, we've separated the creature groups on this page into invertebrates and vertebrates.
Animal Classification Basics
A 'kingdom' such as the animal kingdom or the institute kingdom consists of groups of organisms that share sure characteristics.
A kingdom can itself be 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 and so be farther divided into even smaller groups of organisms that are even more closely-related. This continues until we get right down to individual species.
(In fact, even an individual species can get divided into smaller groups, called subspecies. The domestic dog, for case, is a subspecies of grey wolf.)
The science of placing species into groups is known as taxonomy. Each taxonomic stage, or 'rank' has its own proper noun. From kingdom to species, the basic taxonomic ranks are: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family and species.
- Yous can find out more most beast 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 system and a stomach, and most species are capable of move only in their juvenile form.
There are between half-dozen,000 and 9,000 known species of sponge (every bit with many areas of taxonomy, there is a great deal of discrepancy between data on the exact number of sponges). Nigh all sponges are found in marine habitats, although there are a small number of freshwater sponges.
Sponges are filter feeders. Inside a sponge's body are cells with whip-similar projections called flagella. The movement of the flagella causes water to move through the sponge. The sponge feeds on microorganisms contained inside the h2o.
Ane 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 besides known as flatworms. These invertebrate animals range in size from microscopic species to tapeworms that can be upwards 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 take 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 can exist harmful and even deadly to the host brute.
Often the eggs of parasitic flatworms are eaten past a small-scale animal, in whose body the flatworm undergoes the first stage of its development. When the smaller host animal is eaten by a larger animal, the flatworm sets up a permanent home in its new host. It feeds off the host fauna and too lays its eggs in the host'south body. These are passed by the host animal and the cycle begins again.
Some flatworms make their way through more than 1 host before embedding themselves in their terminal host.
Major types of flatworm:
- Course Turbellaria – gratis-moving, not-parasitic flatworms
- Grade Cestoda – tapeworms and related species, all parasitic
- Clade Trematoda – flukes, all parasitic
- Class Monogenea – parasites that live infest the outside of a host species' body
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Roundworms / Nematodes
- Phylum: Nematoda
Roundworms have long, cylindrical bodies. While most are microscopic, some tin reach lengths of 13m (42.6ft.). Effectually 3,500 roundworm species are currently recognized, merely some biologists believe that the actual number of species is closer to 40,000 or more.
One of the largest roundworms is Placentonema gigantissima. It is a parasite that lives in the placenta of a sperm whale.
Unlike flatworms, who use the same opening both to have in food and to miscarry waste, roundworms have a more than developed digestive system which has divide openings for each task.
There are very few ecosystems on Earth in which roundworms are not present. These adaptable animals are found in polar, mountainous, tundra and desert regions and well as underground and on the bounding main bed.
There are more individual roundworms than any other type of creature. It is estimated that at that place 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 every bit corals, sea anemones and jellyfish. They have soft bodies with radial symmetry (i.eastward. they are symmetrical around a central bespeak, with no 'back' or 'front' side).
Cnidarians such as corals and sea anemones permanently attach themselves to underwater surfaces after a brusk free-swimming larval stage. Others, such every bit jellyfish and the Portuguese man o' state of war, are costless-pond even in adulthood.
All cnidarians are carnivores. They are equipped with cells chosen cnidocytes, which deploy venom via a infinitesimal spear-like structure. Cnidocytes are adapted for capturing prey, and for defense confronting predators. It is these cells that are responsible for a jellyfish's painful sting.
Major Types of Cnidarian
- Class Anthozoa (sea anemones and corals)
- Class Scyphozoa (jellyfish)
- Class Cubozoa (box jellyfish)
- Class Hydrozoa (a group of related animals that includes colonial species such equally the Portuguese man 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 diverse as oysters and octopuses.
The Catalogue of Life (link) currently lists 65,442 species of mollusk, although other estimates suggest that around 85 thousand species are recognized.
Bivalves such equally oysters and clams, gastropods such as snails and slugs, and cephalopods such every bit octopuses, squid and cuttlefish are all mollusks.
All mollusks have a mantle, which is a thick muscular wall that contains respiratory and other organs. In cephalopods, the mantle also functions as a jet, which pushes the animal 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 Antarctic 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 Mollusk
- Class Bivalvia – bivalves (oysters, clams, cockles, mussels and related species)
- Form Gastropoda – gastropods (slugs and snails)
- Grade Cephalopoda – cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopuses)
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Arthropods
- Phylum: Arthropoda
Arthropods are a huge and various group 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) as well as several other invertebrate groups.
The name 'arthropod' means 'jointed foot'. All arthropods take segmented bodies, paired jointed appendages (i.e. legs, antennae, etc.) and hard exoskeletons.
Beneath nosotros look in more detail at some notable arthropod groups.
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Insects
- Form: Insecta
Insects are thought to have appeared during the Silurian Period, between 443.viii–419.2 million years ago. (That'southward over 200 meg years before dinosaurs!)
The offset known insect is Rhyniognatha hirsti, which resembled a modern-twenty-four hours silverfish and walked the Earth 396 million years ago.
Today insects are past far the largest single group of animals in terms of number of species. Over ane million insect species take been described (i.east. named and scientifically accepted as existence an private species).
At that place are more than 3 times known insect species than there are known found species. Insects make up more than half of all known organisms.
In curt, in that location are a lot of unlike types of insects!
Characteristics of all insects include: a difficult exoskeleton, a body comprising three parts: head, thorax and abdomen, three pairs of jointed legs, a single pair of antennae and a pair of compound eyes.
The largest grouping (in terms of number of species) within Insecta is Coleoptera – the beetles. There are over 320,000 recognized species of beetle.
The globe's largest insect is the larval stage of the Goliath beetle Goliathus goliatus. The giant weta Deinacrida heteracantha – a behemothic, flightless cricket plant in New Zealand – vies with the elephant beetles and Goliath beetles for the title of heaviest developed insect.
The world's smallest insect is the parasitic wasp Dicopomorpha echmepterygis, which is constitute in the United States.
Notable Types Of Insect
- Order Coleoptera – beetles
- Society Diptera – flies
- Guild Hymenoptera – wasps, bees and ants
- Guild Mantodea – mantises
- Club Lepidoptera – butterflies and moths
- Order Blattodea – cockroaches and termites
- Order Odonata – dragonflies
Discover More
- You can find out more about insects on this folio: Insects: The Ultimate Guide
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Crustaceans
- Subphylum: Crustacea
With effectually 67,000 species, Crustacea is ane of the largest arthropod groups. Crustaceans are extremely varied; the group includes crabs, lobsters, shrimps, krill, woodlice and barnacles. Most crustaceans live in water, just some – including woodlice – are found on land.
Typical crustacean characteristics include a segmented body with a hard exoskeleton, two pairs of antennae and a pair of chemical compound eyes, 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 2. A crustacean'south second pair of antennae may also be biramous.
The earth'southward smallest crustacean is the tiny marine parasite Tantulacus dieteri, which has a torso length of 85 micrometers (0.0033 in). This miniature crustacean, which infests other small marine crustaceans, may be the world's smallest arthropod. (Some mites of class Arachnida are every bit as tiny.)
The largest crustacean is the Japanese spider crab, which has a maximum hook to hook length of five.5 meters (18 ft.).
The heaviest crustacean is the American lobster, Homarus americanus. With a mass of over xx kg (44 lb.), it is likewise the world'due south heaviest arthropod.
Notable Types Of Crustacean
- Order Euphausiacea – krill
- Infraorder Brachyura – crabs
- Suborder Oniscidea – woodlice
- Infraorder Astacidea – lobsters, crayfish and related animals
- Infraclass Cirripedia – barnacles
Discover More
- You lot can find out more about crustaceans on this page: Crustaceans: The Ultimate Guide
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Arachnids
- Class: Arachnida
The best-known arachnids are spiders, but this arthropod group likewise includes scorpions, camel spiders, mites, ticks and other types of animals.
Arachnids have 4 pairs of legs, and a further two pairs of appendages positioned near the mouth.
These boosted appendages have a number of unlike uses depending on the species. The pair closest to the oral cavity are known as chelicerae. These are the arachnid's 'jaws'. A spider's chelicerae are hollow and are used to inject venom.
The second pair of appendages are known as 'pedipalps'. A spider'southward pedipalps are antennae-similar sense organs, and as well 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
- Subclass Acari – mites and ticks
- Guild Opiliones – harvestmen / daddy longlegs
- Guild Solifugae – camel spiders / wind scorpions / solifuges
- Order Araneae – spiders
- Order Scorpiones – scorpions
Discover More
- You can find out more virtually 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 you rub your dorsum you'll probably be able to experience your backbone. Having a backbone is something we share not simply with our closest relatives in the animal kingdom (the apes) but 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 ancestor. Fish were the commencement animals to develop backbones, and then in the family unit 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 Flow, around 500 million years ago. They were the first vertebrates, and the ancestors of all other vertebrates. Somewhere style dorsum in your own family tree is a fish!
Annotation: in biological science, the give-and-take 'fish' applies to a single fish, or a group of the same species of fish. The discussion 'fishes' is used for a grouping of fish that contains multiple species.
Today there are two main fish groups: the bony fishes (Osteichthyes) and the cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes).
There are as well 2 other, smaller, fish groups: the hagfish (class Myxini) and the lampreys (order Petromyzontiformes). These final 2 groups course a subgroup of Vertebrata known equally the 'jawless fishes'.
Bony fish, as the name suggests, have skeletons made of bone. There are two main 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 thin and supported past spiny basic. About ray-finned fish accept swim-bladders. These gas-filled sacs regulate buoyancy.
The fins of lobe-finned fish are fleshy, and extend from the trunk on short 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 exercise include the coelacanths and the lungfish.
Cartilaginous fish include the sharks, rays, skates and sawfish. Their skeletons are fabricated not of bone, merely of a natural substance called cartilage. The whale shark is non only the globe's largest shark, but also the world'southward largest fish.
Notable Fish Groups
- Course Actinopterygii – ray-finned fishes
- Class Sarcopterygii – lobe-finned fishes
- Subclass Elasmobranchii – (sharks, rays, skates, sawfish)
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Amphibians
- Class Amphibia
Amphibians evolved from four-footed animals known as tetrapods, which themselves had evolved from lobe-finned fishes. (Another co-operative of tetrapods, Amniota, are the ancestors of all living reptiles, birds and mammals.)
The early on amphibians were the ascendant animals on state. Big crocodile-like amphibians preyed on fish and other aquatic animals.
This changed when the amniotes evolved the ability to lay eggs on land. Once freed from their reliance on water for reproduction, early reptiles and the ancestors of mammals became the dominant country 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 h2o, an aquatic larval stage, moist pare capable of gas substitution, a terrestrial (land-dwelling) adult stage. (Some amphibians have evolved means of fugitive the larval stage and give birth to live young. Others retain their gills and remain aquatic fifty-fifty in adulthood.)
Major Types Of Amphibian
- Order Anura (frogs and toads)
- Order Urodela (salamanders)
- Order Apoda (caecilians)
Discover More
- You tin find out more about amphibians on this folio: Amphibians: The Ultimate Guide
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Reptiles
- Class Reptilia
Reptiles are cold-blooded animals that descended from a group of animals called tetrapods, which themselves had evolved from lobe-finned fish. Most reptiles lay eggs, simply some give birth to alive young.
During the Mesozoic Era reptiles became the dominant land animals, but their reign was ended by the meteor strike which caused the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event.
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 chiliad (20 ft.), this fearsome species is found in Australia and Southeast Asia.
There are merely over 10,000 known reptile species. By far the largest grouping of reptiles (in terms of number of the number of species it contains) is Squamata.
Some scientists consider birds to exist 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
- Social club Testudines (turtles and tortoises)
- Club Rhynchocephalia (the tuatara)
- Order Squamata (lizards and snakes)
- Club Crocodilia (crocodiles, gavials, caimans, and alligators)
Discover More
- Yous tin find out more than about reptiles on this page: Reptiles: The Ultimate Guide
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Birds
- Class Aves
Not all dinosaurs became extinct in the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Effect. Birds are directly descended from dinosaurs, and for this reason many scientists consider birds to be dinosaurs.
Today, there are effectually ten,000 known bird species. They range in size from the tiny bee hummingbird to the mutual ostrich.
The vast majority of living birds belong to the infraclass Neognathae. Only lx species belong to the other principal 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 get-go true birds appeared during the Cretaceous Flow. During this time they would take shared the heaven with the first flight vertebrates – the Pterosaurs.
Notable Types Of Bird
- Order Accipitriformes – birds of prey: hawks, eagles kites
- Order Anseriformes – waterfowl: ducks, geese, swans & related species
- Social club Charadriiformes – gulls, auks & waders
- Order Galliformes – gamefowl: turkeys, chickens, partridges, pheasants & related species
- Guild Passeriformes – perching birds / songbirds
- Gild Piciformes – woodpeckers
- Lodge Psittaciformes – parrots
- Order Strigiformes – owls
Discover More
- Yous can notice out more than about birds on this page: Birds: The Ultimate Guide
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Mammals
- Form Mammalia
The start true mammals first appeared during the Late Triassic, effectually 200 to 227 million years ago. While sharing Earth with the dinosaurs, the early mammals were past necessity pocket-sized and nocturnal.
The Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event spelt the end of the dinosaurs' reign. With the dinosaurs gone, mammals quickly became the dominant land animals. They evolved to make full many different niches, fifty-fifty returning to the sea in the shape of whales and dolphins.
Characteristics of mammals include: having pilus, giving nascency to live young (only five species of mammal, the monotremes, lay eggs), being warm-blooded, breathing 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 land. They undergo further development in a special pouch in the mother'south body, where they take access to milk.
Placental mammals requite birth to young at a afterward phase of development than marsupials. While in the womb a developing placental mammal is supplied with nutrients via an organ known equally a placenta. The placenta as well handles gas-exchange and removes waste product products.
Major Mammal Groups
- Social club Artiodactyla – even-toed ungulates: cattle, pigs, sheep, deer, antelopes, giraffes, camels, hippopotamuses and related species
- Infraorder Cetacea (function of Artiodactyla): whales, porpoises, dolphins
- Society Carnivora: dogs, cats, seals, weasels, bears & related species
- Order Chiroptera: bats
- Social club Diprotodontia: kangaroos, possums, wombats & related species
- Club Lagomorpha: rabbits, hares & related species
- Social club Monotremata: echidnas, platypus
- Club Perissodactyla – odd-toed ungulates: horses, rhinoceroses, tapirs
- Society Primates: lemurs, galagoes, monkeys, apes & related species
- Order Rodentia: rodents
Discover More
- You lot can find out more nearly mammals on this folio: Mammals: The Ultimate Guide
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Types of Animals: Conclusion
We hope that you've enjoyed this overview of the animal kingdom and meeting many dissimilar types of animals. If you lot accept whatever questions then feel costless to ask them in the comments section at the foot of the page.
Discover More With Agile Wild
Continue your exploration of Animalia by visiting the pages below:
- Animals: The Ultimate Guide To The Beast 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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