Question

1) Look at information and examples of animals in the 9 phyla of macroscopic (visible) animals: Porifera, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Nematoda, Annelida, Platyhelminthes, Echinodermata, Arthropoda, and Chordata.

2) Make a list of characteristics for each phylum that you might be able to use to tell them apart. These should be physical characteristics such as body symmetry, having a head (or not), having legs (or not), what kind of skeleton the animal has (or not), etc.

3) Using the list from step 2, make a dichotomous key. The key should work as follows: if you look at a photograph or a preserved specimen for any animal, you could use the key to tell which phylum that animal belongs in. For example, if you see a picture of an ant, the key should allow you to determine that the ant is in the phylum Arthropoda.

Answer 1