Given that modern echinoderms and chordates look nothing alike, what factors have led zoologists to propose a close evolutionary relationship between these two phyla?

Q: What class of Chordates is considered as the most advanced and highly specialized?

A: Phylum Chordata belongs to the Kingdom Animalia and includes all the vertebrates, i.e., animals with…

Q: What is the relationship among tunicates, lancelets, and the vertebrate chordates?

A: Chordates are animals that contain backbone or notochord. Animals that lack the notochord or…

Q: What type of symmetry do the Echinoderms have? Do they have this type of symmetry their entire…

A: Echinoderms or spiny skinned animals belong to the phylum Echinodermata. They are marineand…

Q: Only eight species of lobe-finned fishes are alive today, remnants of a group that flourished in the…

A: The Devonian Period occurred from 416 million to 358 million years ago. It was the fourth period of…

Q: What are the three structures shared by every chordate that characterize the group?

A: It is difficult to study all the organisms differently so the organisms are divided into chordates…

Q: Describe three adaptations that have allowed amniotes to become completely terrestrial.

A: Amniotes are basically the organisms that have amnion in their egg. They belong to a clade of…

Q: What are four shared derived characters of chordates?

A: Chordates are the animals with a vertebral column called ‘back bone’. The chordate animals are free…

Q: Name five characteristics shared by all chordates, and explain the primary function of each

A: Animal phylogeny is a rapidly changing field for the biologists. Even if the members of animal…

Q: What characteristics make a pig a chordate?

A: Chordate Chordates belong to the phylum Chordata. During some period of the life cycle of chordates,…

Q: What are four key defining characteristics of chordates?

A: Phylum Chordata is the third largest phylum. The animals belonging to this phylum are called…

Q: What structures did amphibians develop to support the weight of the body against the force of…

A: Amphibians, as their name indicates, are class of organisms that  have adaptations suited for both…

Q: Do all chordates have backbones?

A: Chordates having following characters: Presence of dorsal hollow nerve cord. Presence of notochord.…

Q: What phyla of animals are most closely related to the chordates?

A: Chordates belong to the phylum Chordata. The Chordates in their full life cycle have one of the…

Q: From which diapsid subgroup have crocodilians descended? What other major fossil and living…

A: An organism is any individual entity that embodies the properties of life. Organisms are classified…

Q: What are four distinguishing characteristics of chordates?

A: The four qualities of chordates are a notochord, dorsal, pharyngeal cuts (or pockets), and postanal…

Q: Explain the Evolutionary Trends Among the Chordates ?

A: Chordates are the organism that belongs to the phylum Chordata. These possess notochord during some…

Q: What evidence suggests that radial symmetry in echinoderms was secondarily derived?

A: Radial symmetry means that you cut an organism along any diagonal you will get two equal halves of…

Q: Identify the geologic era and periods in which chordatesand the first vertebrates appear.

A: The chordates are first found in cambrian period which is 530 million years ago

Q: What are three derived characters of echinoderms? Describe each.

A: The group of multicellular and heterotrophic organisms belonging to the kingdom Animalia is called…

Q: How do lobe-finned fishes differ from ray-finned fishes, and why were the ray-finned forms unlikely…

A: Lobe-finned fishes and ray-finned fishes are osteichthyes, popularly referred as bony fish . They…

Q: What features made it difficult for biologists to recognize echiurans and siboglinids as members of…

A: Annelid is the ancient and ecologically important animal phylum. The members form the dominant…

Q: Are the chelicerae of horseshoe crabs homologous or analogous to (1) scorpion pedipalps? (2)…

A: Horseshoe crabs are present in the cephalothorax region. It has walking legs which are the modified…

Q: The following image is from a scientific publication by paleontologist Niel Shubin, who was part of…

A: Homologous structures such as organs or bones are the structures which posses similar anatomical…

Q: List the four traits that define chordates.

A: Chordates include all those animals that contain vertebral columns and they belong to the phylum…

Q: What is a major difference in function of the coelom in holothurians compared with other…

A: The holothurians are commonly called sea cucumbers. They have one distinct feature which separates…

Q: What evidence suggests that ancestral echinoderms were sessile?

A: Phylum Echinoderms include organisms that are exclusively marine. The have spines that stick out…

Q: Why are echinoderms considered part of the Deuterostomes, despite having incredibly unique…

A: Echinoderms are marine, spiny invertebrates belonging to the phylum Echinodermata, superphylum…

Q: 1. Describe evidence showing that echinoderms are more closely related to chordates than are other…

A: Introduction :- Marine invertebrates classified as echinoderms include starfish, brittle stars, sea…

Q: How do the skin and respiratory systems of amniotes differ from those of their early tetrapod…

A: Amniotes belongs to the kingdom Animalia and phylum Chordata. They belong to the clade of tetrapod…

Q: How do we know that echinoderms were derived from an ancestor with bilateral symmetry?

A: Echinoderms got this name from Greek word echinos means spiny and dermos  means skin. Phylum…

Q: Which of the following could be considered the most recentcommon ancestor of living tetrapods?(A) a…

A: The term “tetrapods” means “four feet”. The tetrapods are the animals that belong to the superclass…

Q: What are the differences between vertebrates and the other chordates?

A: Organisms are divided into two categories- Vertebrates and Chordates. Vertebrates have vertebral…

Q: Name five characteristics shared by all chordates, and briefly explain the primary function of each.

A: All animals in the phylum Chordata share five main features ; Notochord Dorsal hollow nerve cord…

Q: What is the currently favored explanation for the evolution of vertebrate jaws?

A: The jawless vertebrates belong to the subphylum Vertebrata under the section Agnatha. The…

Q: What does the name “echinoderm” mean?

A: Echinoderms have the following characteristics- 1. They are triploblastic. 2. They are marine. 3.…

Q: How would you distinguish pelycosaurs, early therapsids, cynodonts and mammals?

A: Answer of the question given below...

Q: What similarities are present in birds and reptiles in terms of their external features?

A: Birds are parrot, owl, penquinn, albatross,  Swift and many more whereas some of the examples of…

Q: explain why the four synapomorphic traits of chordates are not synaphomorphic in the context of…

A: introduction Synapomorphies are characters shared by a group of taxa due to inheritance from a…

Q: what is a homologous feature shared by ostriches and amphibians?

A: In evolutionary biology, the similarity between organisms is of two types: analogy and homology.…

Q: What is the embryonic characteristic that evolutionarily makes echinoderms proximal to chordates?

A: Echinoderms are the marine organisms that belong to the kingdom Animalia. They are triploblastic…

Q: Make some observations about archosaurs as a group. What features do they have in common that make…

A: The Archosaur is a subclass that consists of birds and reptiles (the crocodiles) and a few other…

Q: What types of molecular and morphological changes occurred along the different branches that led to…

A: Answer: Introduction: Tetrapods (means four limbs) evolved from a group of animals called as the…

Q: Identify four derived characters that all chordates haveat some point during their life

A: A  chordate is an animal of the phylum Chordata. Chordates are divided into three subphyla:…

Q: How did the characteristic differences between aquatic and terres-trial environments influence the…

A: The basic differences that animal are required to accommodate while moving from water to land are…

Q: Distinguish between ostracoderms and placoderms. What important evolutionary characters first…

A: Vertebrates comprise all species of animals within the subphylum Vertebrata. A vertebrate have a…

Q: In what ways were therapsids adaptively superior to the amphibians and reptiles that preceded them?

A: Therapsids are the ancestors of present-day mammals and their related ancestors. They represent an…

Marine Evolution

Marine habitat is less explored, and hence, its biological diversity is far less known. The marine habitats are not constant due to their shifting nature, while the terrestrial habitats are more stable. Marine biology is the science that deals with the study of diverse marine species, their interactions, and behavioral characteristics.