Vertebrata
Sign in to saveVertebrates (), also called craniates, are animals with a vertebral column and a cranium. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain.
AI overview
Vertebrates are animals that have a backbone (vertebral column) and a skull (cranium), which protect their spinal cord and brain respectively. This group includes familiar animals like fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, making vertebrates one of the most recognizable and studied categories of animals.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Taxonomy · GBIF
GENUS
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumRhodophyta
- ClassFlorideophyceae
- OrderCeramiales
- FamilyRhodomelaceae
via GBIF · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Subclass of
- Chordata
- Parent taxon
- Olfactores
- Image
- Lizard on leaf cutted.jpg
Show 8 more facts
Article
23 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Unique features
- Physical
- Molecular
- Evolutionary history
- Cambrian explosion: first craniates
- Paleozoic: evolution of fish, first amphibians
- Mesozoic: Dinosaurs and other land animals
- Cenozoic: Age of Mammals
- Approaches to classification
- Taxonomic history
- Vertebrata
- Cyclostomes and craniates
- Traditional taxonomy
- External phylogeny
- Internal phylogeny
- Diversity
- Recent population trends
- Notes
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Vertebrates (), also called craniates, are animals with a vertebral column and a cranium. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain.
The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebrata ( ) with some 65,000 species, by far the largest ranked grouping in the phylum Chordata. The vertebrates include mammals, birds, amphibians, and various classes of fish and reptiles. The fish include the jawless Agnatha, and the jawed Gnathostomata. The jawed fish include both the cartilaginous fish and the bony fish. Bony fish include the lobe-finned fish, which gave rise to the tetrapods, the animals with four limbs. Despite their success, vertebrates still only make up less than five percent of all described animal species.