Arthropods (crabs, spiders, insects) Kingdom:- Animalia Phylum:- Arthropoda

Arthropods are considered the most successful animals on the planet. They live on land, sea and air, and make up about three-fourths of known living organisms as well as the ones that are fossils. Arthropods first appeared in the sea and most are marine. Arthropods range in size from the king crab with its 12-foot arm span to microscopic insects and crustaceans. Description Even though there are diverse types, their bodies are fairly common. The body is made of a stiff cuticle which is composed largely of chitin and proteins. They have segmented bodies where the heads, abdomens, and other body parts are fused. Some arthropods, have legs with two branches, the outer branch that is often a flattened gill( for respiration), while the inner branch is often used for walking or modified for grasping, chewing, or reproduction. Some have air ducts called trachea that bring air from the environment into hemocoel. Arthropods also have a hemocoel, which is a open body cavity in which blood flows and bathes the tissues and organs. They generally lack blood vessels. Malphigian tubules- for removal of nitrogenous wastes and uric acid.

Time period Social termites and ants first appear in the late Cretaceous Period( between 145.5 and 65.5 million years ago).