What are the characteristics of arthropods?
Some arthropods live on land and other arthropods live in water.
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| A bee lives on land |
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| A crab is a aquatic arthropod |
Physical appearance
Arthropods have an exoskeleton and a head. They have a segmented body and several pairs of legs.
Body functions
Aquatic arthropods have gills to obtain oxygen.
Land arthropods have small tubes on the exterior of the body. The tubes carry oxygen to the internal organs.
Types
We classify arthropods according to their number of legs.
Arachnids have eight legs. Examples are spiders and scorpions. They have sense receptors called palps.
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| Spider |
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| Scorpion |
Crustaceans have ten legs. Most species are aquatic. Examples are crabs and lobsters.
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| Crab |
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| Lobster |
Myriapods have a long body and many pairs of legs. Examples are millipides and centipedes.
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| Milipede |
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| Centipede |
Insects have six legs. Many of them also have wings. Examples are ants, bees and butterflies.
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| Ant |
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| Hornet |
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| Butterfly |
