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A chordate (/ ˈ k ɔːr d eɪ t / KOR-dayt) is a deuterostomal bilaterian animal belonging to the phylum Chordata (/ k ɔːr ˈ d eɪ t ə / kor-DAY-tə).All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five distinctive physical characteristics (synapomorphies) that distinguish them from other taxa.
This article contains a list of all of the classes and orders that are located in the phylum Chordata. The subphyla Tunicata and Vertebrata are in the unranked Olfactores clade, while the subphylum Cephalochordata is not. Animals in Olfactores are characterized as having a more advanced olfactory system than animals not in it.
The Cambrian chordates are an extinct group of animals belonging to the phylum Chordata that lived during the Cambrian, between 538 and 485 million years ago. The first Cambrian chordate known is Pikaia gracilens , a lancelet -like animal from the Burgess Shale in British Columbia , Canada.
Vertebrates share these characteristics with other chordates. [4] Vertebrates are distinguished from all other animals, including other chordates, by multiple synapomorphies, namely the vertebral column; skull of bone or cartilage, large brain divided into 3 or more sections, a muscular heart with multiple chambers; an inner ear with ...
As a subphylum of chordates, all vertebrates have evolved a vertebral column (backbone) based around the embryonic notochord (which becomes the intervertebral discs), forming the core structural support of an internal skeleton, and also serves to enclose and protect the spinal cord.
All chordates except tunicates sport an intricate, closed circulatory system, with highly branched blood vessels. Olfactores , last common ancestor of tunicates and vertebrates in which olfaction (smell) evolved.
On the other hand, fossils of early chordates are very rare, as non-vertebrate chordates have no bone tissue or teeth, and fossils of no Post-Cambrian non-vertebrate chordates are known aside from the Permian-aged Paleobranchiostoma, trace fossils of the Ordovician colonial tunicate Catellocaula, and various Jurassic-aged and Tertiary-aged ...
Vertebrates (12 C, 2 P) Ι. Chordate images (2 C, 15 F) Σ. Chordate stubs (2 C, 10 P) Pages in category "Chordates" The following 5 pages are in this category, out ...