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Unit 4 - Animal Body Plans

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22 views4 pages

Unit 4 - Animal Body Plans

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elysepither
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Unit 4 - Animal body plans (Bauplans)

● Diversity of animal forms is constrained by evolutionary history (phylogenetic constraint)


and way of life. These factors shape their bauplans

●The Homeobox (HOX) gene


○ Regulatory gene
○ Redundancy provided more evolutionary options
○ Duplication events associated with vertebrate bauplan and origin of jaws
Symmetry
● Spherical symmetry = any plane passing through center divides body into equivalent
halves
● Radial symmetry = can be divided into similar halves by more than two planes passing
through longitudinal axis
● Bilateral symmetry = can be divided along sagittal plane into two mirrored right and left
halves

Bilateral symmetry
● Better suited to directional movement than are radially symmetrical animals
● Strongly associated with cephalization
● Terms used for locating regions of bilaterally symmetrical animals:
○ Anterior, the head end, posterior, the tail end
○ Dorsal, the back (or top) side, ventral, the front (or belly) side
○ Medial, refers to the midline, lateral, to the sides
○ Distal, parts far from middle of body, proximal, parts nearer to middle
○ Pectoral, referring to chest, pelvic, referring to hip

Diploblastic organization: Two germ layers


● Cells organized into two tissue layers
○ Ectoderm becomes epidermis
○ Endoderm becomes gastrodermis
Body cavities
● Major innovation appearing within Bilateria is the coelom – a fluid-filled space
surrounding gut
● Some bilateral animals have a tube-within-a-tube design
● Advantages of tube-within-a-tube design are:
○ Gives body cavity greater flexibility
○ Provides space for internal organs
○ More internal cells are exposed to surface exchange, permitting greater size and
complexity
○ Hydrostatic skeleton aids in movement and burrowing
Three kinds of bilateral coelomic body plans
● Acoelomate bilateria (ex. Ribbon worm)
○ No body cavity surrounding gut
○ Region between ectodermal epidermis and endodermal digestive tract
completely filled with spongy mesoderm called parenchyma
● Pseudocoelomate bilateria (ex. roundworm)
○ Cavity surrounding gut not lined with mesoderm
○ Cavity called a pseudocoel
● Eucoelomate bilateria (ex. earthworm)
○ True coelom lined with mesoderm
○ Presence of coelom:
■ Confers improved control of body movements and locomotion
■ Allows for evolution of larger-sized organisms
Triploblastic organization: Three germ layers
● During development, embryonic cells migrate and differentiate to form three germ layers
○ Ectoderm becomes skin and nervous system
○ Mesoderm becomes muscular, skeletal, circulatory, and excretory systems
○ Endoderm becomes digestive system, pharynx, and lungs
Segmentation
● Segmentation is serial repetition of similar body segments along longitudinal axis (many
animals exhibit this)
● Segments are also called somites or metameres

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