What are the characteristics of members of subphylum Urochordata and Cephalochordata?

Urochordata and Cephalochordata are two subphyla of the phylum Chordata. Urochordata and Cephalochordata are the two most relative groups of vertebrates. Both Urochordata and Cephalochordata consist of pharyngeal gill slits, a notochord, a dorsal, hollow, nerve cord, and a post-anal tail.

What are the features of Protochordates?

Characteristics of Protochordata

• They are generally found in marine water.
• Their body is bilaterally symmetrical, triploblastic, and coelomated.
• At a certain stage of their lives, their body develops a long, rod-like structure for support called the notochord.
• They exhibit organ system level of organization.

Why cephalochordates are so called?

The group derives its name from the notochord that extends far forward into the head (farther than the brain, in contrast to vertebrates). The most famous representative of the group is Branchiostoma lanceolatus (also known as Amphioxus, or lancelet ). There are about twenty-five living species of cephalochordates.

What is the phylum of Cephalochordata?

Chordate
Cephalochordate/Phylum

What are the 7 characteristics of a chordate?

Terms in this set (7)

• Notochord.
• Dorsal hollow nerve cord.
• Postanal tail.
• Segmented muscle bands.
• Endostyle.
• Brain.
• Pharyngeal gill slits.

What are the five chordate characteristics?

The five characteristic features of chordates present during some time of their life cycles are a notochord, a dorsal hollow tubular nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, endostyle/thyroid gland, and a post-anal tail.

What are the 5 characteristics of chordates?

What are vertebrates characteristics?

As chordates, vertebrates have the same common features: a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. Vertebrates are further differentiated from chordates by their vertebral column, which forms when their notochord develops into the column of bony vertebrae separated by discs.

Why is amphioxus called Lancelet?

Known as lancelets or as amphioxus (from the Greek for “both [ends] pointed,” in reference to their shape), cephalochordates are small, eel-like, unprepossessing animals that spend much of their time buried in sand.

What is an example of Cephalochordata?

Other species belonging to the subphylum are already extinct. For instance, Pikaia gracilens species were recovered from the Burgess Shale (i.e. a fossil-bearing deposit located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada). They look similar to the lancelet and probably swam like the eels.

What are the five characteristics of chordates?

Characteristics of Chordata Animals in the phylum Chordata share five key characteristics that appear at some stage during their development: a notochord, a dorsal hollow (tubular) nerve cord, pharyngeal gill arches or slits, a post-anal tail, and an endostyle/thyroid gland (Figure 29.3).

What are characteristics of Mammalia?

What five characteristics do mammals have in common? Mammals have hair or fur; are warm-blooded; most are born alive; the young are fed milk produced by the mother’s mammary glands; and they have a more complex brain than other animals.

What are the important features of the subphylum Cephalochordata?

Important Features of the Subphylum Cephalochordata Lankester, 1877: [Gk. Kephale, a head], Approx. 23 species. a. Cephalochordates are small, fish-like translucent marine chordates. b. The body is laterally compressed and tapered at both ends with a post-anal tail. They are commonly called “lancelets” for the shape of the body. c.

Where does the word cephalochordate come from?

A cephalochordate (from Greek: κεφαλή kephalé, “head” and χορδή khordé, “chord”) is an animal in the chordate subphylum, Cephalochordata.

How does the notochord of the cephalochordate function?

The notochord of the cephalochordate is functioned to allow body movement within their water environment whereas vertebrates use the notochord for body formation. Cephalochordates have developed a filter feeding system, called the oral hood, that serves as the entrance for incoming food particles.

Why are the lancelets called the cephalochordates?

Form and function General features. The lancelets are also called cephalochordates (Greek: kephale, “head”) because the notochord extends from near the tip of the tail to well into the anterior of the body. Because they do not have the braincase, or cranium, of a vertebrate, lancelets are often called