General Body Plan of

Animals
General Body Plan of Animals
Throughout the evolution of animals,
their body plans have undergone many
changes:
Evolution of Tissues
-simplest animals like Parazoans
(sponges) exist as simply aggregates of
cells with minimal intercellular
coordination.
-eumetazoa (all higher animals), have
distinct tissues with highly specialized
cells.
General Body Plan of Animals
Evolution of Bilateral Symmetry
-sponges lack symmetry
-RADIAL symmetry- exhibited by marine
animals: Cnidarians (jellyfishes, sea
anemones and corals) and Ctenophorans
(combjellies)—PHYLUM RADIATA
General Body Plan of Animals
-BILATERAL symmetry- (PHYLUM
BILATERIA) right and left mirror
images; concept of dorsal/ventral,
anterior end/ posterior end
General Body Plan of Animals
Bilateral symmetry allowed
animals to:
-move more efficiently
-have different organs located
in different parts of the body
-produce 3 germ layers:
ectoderm-outer coverings,
mesoderm-skeleton and muscles,
and endoderm-digestive organs
-CEPHALIZATION
General Body Plan of Animals
Evolution of Body Cavity
-evolved for supporting organs, and
distributing materials
- 3 kinds of body plans: 
Acoelomates
-no body cavity
-flatworms: tapeworms, flukes and
planarians
General Body Plan of Animals
Pseudocoelomates
-with a body cavity- pseudocoel
-between mesoderm and endoderm
-nematodes: Ascaris
 General Body Plan of Animals

Evolution of Segmentation
-subdivision of the body into
segments
-advantages: (annelids) damage in
one segment is not fatal
(duplication of segment functions)
and in locomotion, each segment
can move independently.
General Body Plan of Animals
SEGMENTATION
METAMERISM: each
segment is similar to the
other (somites/metameres).
TAGMATIZATION: segments
fused into functional
clitellum
groups
(tagmata)