Embryology and Phylogeny in Annelids and Arthropods

Book excerpt: Embryology and Phylogeny in Annelids and Arthropods describes the embryology of segmented invertebrates, utilizing morphological facts of embryonic development in the furtherance of speculations on phylogenetic relationships. This book begins with an introduction to embryology and phylogeny, followed by a discussion on the experimental embryology of animals groups, such as polychaetes, oligochaetes and leeches, onychophorans, myriapods, apterygote and pterygote insects, crustaceans, and chelicerates. The cleavage, gastrulation, and basic pattern of development of these invertebrates are also provided. This text concludes with a presentation of the onychophoran-myriapod-hexapod assemblage or Uniramia. This publication is recommended for experimental embryologists researching on the embryonic development in annelids and arthropods.