The topic I chose for this essay is:
Arthropoda is the largest phylum in the world. Should all of these creatures really be classified together under one group? Why or why not? What do they all have in common?
In my opinion they should be placed under one big group. All those creatures may be different, but they are still similar when it comes to sharing some of the same features. Some of those features would be a segmented body, jointed appendages, and exoskeleton molted at intervals. These creatures are different due to added unique features about each one. For example there’s groups insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. Insects such as flies have wings and there’s insects such as certain bugs that don’t have wings, but still fit in this category for their similarity in segmented body/jointed appendages. Crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters may be a bit bigger than mere insects, but are in the category Arthropoda because of the similarity in exoskeleton/jointed appendages. As for the arachnids the spiders also have the similarity in terms of exoskeleton/jointed appendages.
In conclusion, despite some of the individual unique differences they all still contain the same kind of body plan which makes them all classified under the big group phylum of Arthropoda.
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