Phylum

Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Autographa californica. Photo: (c) Dick, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA)

An arthropod (from Greek ἄρθρον arthron, “joint” and πούς pous, “foot”) is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton (external skeleton), a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Euarthropoda, which includes insects, arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans. The term Arthropoda as originally proposed refers to a proposed grouping of Euarthropods and the phylum Onychophora. Arthropods are characterized by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, often mineralised with calcium carbonate. The arthropod body…

— Wikipedia