Top Arthropod Flashcards

“Arthropod” means “jointed leg,” and it covers all the animals with bug-like legs: insects, spiders, scorpions, crabs, centipedes, and all sorts of other crawly creatures with long, bent legs and hard exoskeletons. The arthropods are some of the most successful animals on the planet, accounting for an astounding 84% of all animal species on Earth. That means there are more than four times as many arthropod species as there are non-arthropods! And these species are incredibly diverse in size, behavior, and appearance.

There are Japanese spider crabs that can be more than 12 feet from foot to foot, while other arthropods are so small they can only be seen with a powerful microscope. Some are solitary hunters like the wolf spider, while others, such as leaf-cutter ants, live in huge colonies and feed on carefully-tended gardens of fungi. Many people dislike arthropods because of their creepy appearance and odd, stiff-legged motion. But the arthropods are one of the major pillars of the animal kingdom, and without them our world would never have evolved its magnificent diversity of creatures.
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