The animal kingdom is composed of eukaryotic (multicellular) organisms that are heterotrophic, meaning that, for their sustenance, they must ingest other organisms or their products. With reference to the means of how animals obtain their sustenance, several terms are often used, terms such as carnivores, herbivores, omnivores and parasites.
With few exceptions, animals are motile (able to move), reproduce sexually and grow from a hollow sphere of cells called the blastula (Greek: blastos, meaning sprout) during embryonic development.
The Animal Kingdom with over 1.5 million known species
1 is divided into multiple successive groups of similar creatures. The first scientific nomenclature term used for the division of species into groups is called phyla (singular phylum).
In the animal kingdom, there are some forty phyla groups, and of these, most all animal species fall into nine major phyla. However, there are also twenty-three minor phyla, seven extinct phyla and one phylum of
species inquirenda
2 classification.
The section headers on this page list the nine major phylum and includes a link to a page that shows the subsequent phylum subdivisions, starting with the index of their class level divisions.
All Classes on those subsequent pages are further divided into Order, Family, Genus, Species, and for some,sub-Species, all of which, in time, will have links to subsequent pages and show a photo study of the species.
The Major Phyla Gallery
At this time, the discussion in this Animal Kingdom Gallery will primarily focus on the nine major phyla mentioned above, which in my determination, a major phyla has seven thousand or more species.
However, since not one of God′s creation is superfluous, included in the following list are the other known phyla of the Animal kingdom, which could possibly be expanded upon in the future.
In the list directly below, the name of the phyla are highlighted in bold and each has a brief description of the type of animals within that phylum. The types of animals are the subject of the several galleries which you can access when you click on a blue link in the below sections.
Major Phyla
(listed in order of total species number)
Arthropoda
(centipedes, insects, lobsters, spiders) 1.25 million species
Mollusca
(clams, mussels, octopus, oyster, snails, squid) 85,000 species
Chordata
(amphibians,
birds, fish,
mammals, reptiles) 70,000 species
Platyhelminthes
(flat worms) 29,500 species
Nematoda
(round worms) 25,000+ species
Annelida
(earthworms, leeches [segmented worms]) 17,000 species
Cnidaria
(invertebrates-jellyfish, anemones, corals) 16,000 species
Porifera
(sponges) 10,800+ species
Echinodermata
(sea cucumber, sea stars, sea urchins) 7,500 species
Minor Phyla
(listed in order of total species number)
Bryozoa
(moss animals, sea mats) 6,000 species
Rotifera
(rotifers) 2,000 species
Nemertea
(ribbon worms) 1,350 species
Tardigrada
(water bears) 1,335 species
Gastrotricha
(gastrotrichs) 794 species
Xenacoelomprpha
(strange flatworm) 430 species
Nematomorpha
(horsehair worms) 354 species
Brachiopoda
(lamp shells) 396 species
Kinorhyncha
(mud dragons) 196 species
Ctenophora
(comb jellies, sea gooseberries) 187 species
Onychophora
(velvet worms) 187 species
Chaetognatha
(arrow worms) 186 species
Entoprocta
(goblet worm) 172 species
Hemichordata
(acorn worms, pterbranchs) 126 species
Rhombozoa
(rhombozoans) 107 species
Gnathostomulida
(jaw worms) 97 species
Loricifera
(brush heads) 30 species
Orthonectida
(orthonectidians) 29 species
Priapulida
(priapus worms) 20 species
Phoronida
(horseshoe worms) 16 species
Placazoa
(placazoans) 4 species
Cycliophora
(symbion) 2 species
Microanathozoa
(tiny jaw) 1 species
