Animal Classification
Question 1
You have begun to study the kingdoms in science class. Your group has been assigned to develop a dichotomous key to classify various animals. One group member came up with the key you see here. It is a good start, but some features are lacking. The first choice you make when using the key is between invertebrate and vertebrate. Review the phyla listed under invertebrates. What would be a good second choice when trying to classify an animal that is an invertebrate?
Responses
A legs or no legslegs or no legs
B aquatic or terrestrialaquatic or terrestrial
C exoskeleton or no exoskeletonexoskeleton or no exoskeleton
D body segments or no body segments
C exoskeleton or no exoskeleton
sbody segments or no body segments
Question 2
Your group continues to classify invertebrates. You are given this speccing as well as this short dichotomous key. Based on the characteristics, what is this invertebrate?
Responses
A beetlebeetle
B flyfly
C lobsterlobster
D spider
Without the specific characteristics mentioned in the question and the dichotomous key, it is not possible to determine the exact invertebrate in question.
Your group continues to classify invertebrates. You are given this speccing as well as this short dichotomous key. Based on the characteristics, what is this invertebrate?
Responses
A beetlebeetle
B flyfly
C lobsterlobster
D spider
Unfortunately, without the specific characteristics mentioned in the question and the dichotomous key, it is still not possible to determine the exact invertebrate in question.
C exoskeleton or no exoskeleton
To find a good second choice for classifying an animal that is an invertebrate, we should review the phyla listed under invertebrates. This will help us identify another distinguishing characteristic that can be used in the dichotomous key.
A dichotomous key is a tool used to classify organisms based on their shared characteristics. It consists of a series of choices or questions, with two possible answers for each choice. By following these choices, we can narrow down the possible classifications of an organism until we reach a specific group or species.
In this case, since we have already determined that the organism is an invertebrate, we need to find another characteristic that can be used to further classify it. Let's review the options provided:
A) Legs or no legs: This choice would be useful for identifying different species of arthropods, which include insects, spiders, and crustaceans. However, it may not be applicable for all invertebrates.
B) Aquatic or terrestrial: This choice could help differentiate between organisms that live in water (aquatic) and those that live on land (terrestrial). It is a useful characteristic for classifying various groups of invertebrates such as marine animals, worms, and insects.
C) Exoskeleton or no exoskeleton: This choice would help us distinguish between organisms with an external skeleton (exoskeleton) and those without one. It is particularly relevant for classifying arthropods like crustaceans, insects, and spiders.
D) Body segments or no body segments: This choice could be used to separate organisms that have distinct body segments (such as annelids and arthropods) from those that do not, like mollusks or jellyfish.
Based on the options provided, all of them could be potentially useful as a second choice in a dichotomous key for invertebrates, depending on the specific group of organisms being classified. The most appropriate choice would depend on the intended scope and purpose of the key.