Biology
Plant and Animal Groups: Quick Revision
A brief note on Groups of Plants and Animals: the five groups of plants, monocots and dicots, the eight groups of invertebrates, and the five classes of vertebrates. With a worked example, practice, a program and questions to check yourself.
Written by StemPy LabA brief note on Plant and Animal Groups. Try each question at the end before you open its answer.
The groups of plants
| Group | The clue | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Thallophyta | no root, stem or leaf | Spirogyra |
| Bryophyta | no vascular tissue | moss |
| Pteridophyta | vascular tissue, spores, no seeds | fern |
| Gymnosperms | naked seeds | pine |
| Angiosperms | seeds in fruits | mango |
Monocots: one cotyledon, parallel veins, fibrous roots. Dicots: two cotyledons, a net of veins, a tap root.
The invertebrates
| Group | The clue | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Porifera | pores; cells, no tissues | sponge |
| Coelenterata | one opening, two layers | Hydra |
| Platyhelminthes | flat body | tapeworm |
| Nematoda | round, thin body | Ascaris |
| Annelida | body in rings | earthworm |
| Arthropoda | jointed legs; the largest group | cockroach |
| Mollusca | soft body, muscular foot | snail |
| Echinodermata | spiny skin, in the sea | starfish |
Radial symmetry: the same all round, as in a starfish. Bilateral symmetry: a left side and a right side.
The vertebrates
| Class | Skin | Heart | Breathing | Body |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pisces | scales | 2 chambers | gills | cold |
| Amphibia | moist | 3 | gills, then lungs | cold |
| Reptilia | dry scales | 3 (4 in the crocodile) | lungs | cold |
| Aves | feathers | 4 | lungs | warm |
| Mammalia | hair | 4 | lungs | warm |
A worked example
Walk the keys for a neem tree and a house lizard.
- Neem. Root, stem and leaf: yes. Vascular tissue: yes. Seeds: yes, in a fruit. So it is an angiosperm. Its leaves have a net of veins, so it is a dicot.
- House lizard. A backbone, so it is a vertebrate. Dry skin with scales and a three-chambered heart: Reptilia.
Practice with new numbers
A program to try
The program sorts the animals of a pond survey.
Mistakes to avoid
- Calling a fern a flowering plant. Ferns make spores, not seeds.
- Putting all worms in one group. Flat, round and ringed worms are three groups.
- Calling a whale or a dolphin a fish. They breathe with lungs and feed their young on milk.
- Thinking cold-blooded means cold. The body simply follows the temperature around it.
Check yourself
- A moss covers a shady rock. Why can it never grow as tall as a tree?
- A sea cucumber lives in the sea and has a spiny skin. To which group does it belong?
- A snake and a frog both have three chambers in the heart. Which feature tells them apart?
- A sponge never moves. Why is it still an animal?
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