All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five distinctive physical characteristics (synapomorphies) that distinguish them from other taxa.

Dec 4, 2025 · Chordate, any member of the phylum Chordata, which includes the vertebrates, the most highly evolved animals, as well as two other subphyla—the tunicates and cephalochordates. Some …

Nov 28, 2025 · What are chordates. Learn about the phylum Chordata with examples and their features, including symmetry, habitat, reproduction, evolution, and fossil records.

Animals in the phylum Chordata share four key features that appear at some stage during their development: a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail (Figure …

The most conspicuous and familiar members of Chordata are vertebrates, but this phylum also includes two groups of invertebrate chordates. All chordates are deuterostomes possessing a notochord.

Chordates are defined as organisms that possess a structure called a notochord, at least during some part of their development. The notochord is a rod that extends most of the length of the body when it …

Nov 28, 2025 · Chordates have colonized nearly every environment on Earth. Understanding their diversity requires examining the fundamental body plan, the invertebrate forms that represent their …

In chordates, it is located dorsally (at the top of the animal) to the notochord. In contrast to the chordates, other animal phyla are characterized by solid nerve cords that are located either ventrally …

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes all the vertebrates (subphylum Vertebrata), as well as two subphylum of invertebrates, the Urochordata (tunicates) and the …

Dec 4, 2025 · This outline gives the major groups of chordates. Modern systematic biology attempts to arrange groups of organisms in a way that suggests the genealogical relationships (branching …