Animal kingdom: classification, characteristics and examples

Author: John Stephens
Date Of Creation: 22 January 2021
Update Date: 4 November 2024
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O animal kingdom or metazoa, known as the animal kingdom, includes very different organisms. There are types of animals that measure less than a millimeter, such as many rotifers; but there are also animals that can reach 30 meters, with the blue whale. Some only live in very specific habitats, while others can survive even the most extreme conditions. This is the case of seahorses and tardigrades, respectively.

Furthermore, animals can be as simple as a sponge or as complex as humans. However, all types of animals are very well adapted to their habitat and, thanks to him, they have survived to the present day. Do you want to meet them? Don't miss this PeritoAnimal article about animal kingdom: classification, characteristics and examples.


Classification of animals

The classification of animals is very complex and includes types of animals so small that they are invisible to the naked eye, as well as being unknown. Due to the huge diversity of these groups of animals, let's just talk about the phyla or more abundant and known types of animals. They are as follows:

  • porifers (Phylum Porifera).
  • Cnidarians (Phylum Cnidaria).
  • Platyhelminths (Phylum Platyhelminthes).
  • Molluscs (Phylum Mollusca).
  • annelids (Phylum Anellida).
  • Nematodes (Phylum Nematode).
  • Arthropods (Phylum Arthropod).
  • Echinoderms (Phylum Echinodermata).
  • Strings (Phylum Chordata).

Later, we will leave a list of the most unknown organisms in the animalia kingdom.

Porifers (Phylum Porifera)

The Poriferous phylum includes more than 9,000 known species. Most are marine, although there are a 50 freshwater species. We refer to the sponges, some sessile animals that live attached to a substrate and feed by filtering the water that surrounds them. Their larvae, however, are mobile and pelagic, so they form part of plankton.


Examples of Porifers

Here are some interesting examples of porifers:

  • glass sponge(Euplectellaaspergillus): they house a couple of crustaceans of the genus Spongola that get attached to it.
  • Hermit sponge (Suberites domuncula): it grows on the shells used by hermit crabs and take advantage of their movement to capture nutrients.

Cnidarians (Phylum Cnidaria)

The cnidarian group is one of the most interesting phyla of the animal kingdom. It consists of more than 9,000 aquatic species, mostly marine. They are characterized by the fact that, throughout their development, they can present two forms of life: polyps and jellyfish.


Polyps are benthic and remain attached to a substrate on the seabed. They often form colonies known as corals. When the time comes to reproduce, many species transform into pelagic beings that float on water. They are known as jellyfish.

Examples of cnidarians

  • Portuguese caravel (Physalia physalis): it is not a jellyfish, but a floating colony formed by small jellyfish.
  • magnificent anemone(Heteractis magnificent): is a polyp with stinging tentacles between which some clown fish live.

Platyhelminths (Phylum Platyhelminthes)

The flatworm phylum contains more than 20,000 species known as flat worms. It is one of the most feared groups in the animalia kingdom due to its frequent parasitic condition. However, many flatworms are free-living predators. Most are hermaphrodite and their size varies between a millimeter and many meters.

Examples of flatworms

Here are some examples of flatworms:

  • Tapeen (Taenia solium): huge flat worm that parasitizes pigs and humans.
  • Planarians(Pseudoceros spp.): flat worms that live under the sea. They are predators and stand out for their great beauty.

You may also be interested in knowing who the best parents in the animal kingdom are.

Molluscs (Phylum Mollusca)

Phyllum Mollusca is one of the most diverse in the animal kingdom and includes more than 75,000 known species. These include marine, freshwater and terrestrial species. They are characterized by having a soft body and the ability to manufacture their own shells or skeletons.

The best known types of molluscs are gastropods (snails and slugs), cephalopods (squid, octopus and nautilus) and bivalves (mussels and oysters),

Examples of shellfish

Here are some curious examples of molluscs:

  • Sea slugs (discodoris spp.): very cute marine gastropods.
  • Nautilus (Nautilus spp.): are shelled cephalopods that are considered living fossils.
  • giant mussels (tridacane spp.): they are the biggest bivalves that exist and can reach a size of two meters.

Annelids (Phylum Annelida)

The annelids group is made up of more than 13,000 known species and has, as in the previous group, species from the sea, freshwater and land. Within the classification of animals, these are segmented animals and very diverse. There are three classes or types of annelids: polychaetes (marine worms), oligochaetes (land worms) and hirudinomorphs (leeches and other parasites).

Examples of annelids

Here are some curious examples of annelids:

  • Dusting worms (family Sabellidae): it is common to confuse them with corals, but they are one of the most beautiful annelids that exist.
  • Giant Amazon Leech (Haementeria ghilianii): is one of the biggest leeches in the world.

Second photo taken from YouTube.

Nematodes (Phylum Nematoda)

The nematode phylum is, despite appearances, one of the most diverse within the animal classification. Includes more than 25,000 species of cylindrical worms. These worms have colonized all environments and are found at all levels of the food chain. This means that they can be phytophagous, predators or parasites, the latter being better known.

Examples of Nematodes

Here are some examples of nematodes:

  • Soy nematode (Heterodera glycines): parasite of soybean roots, causing serious problems in crops.
  • Filarias of the heart (Dirofilaria immitis): are worms that parasitize the heart and lungs of dogs (dogs, wolves, etc.).

Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

The Phylum Arthropoda is O most diverse and abundant group of the animal kingdom. The classification of these animals includes arachnids, crustaceans, myriapods and hexapods, among which are found all types of insects.

All these animals have articulated appendices (legs, antennae, wings etc) and an exoskeleton known as the cuticle. During their life cycle, they change the cuticle several times and many have larvae and/or nymphs. When these are very different from adults, they undergo a process of metamorphosis.

Examples of Arthropods

To demonstrate the diversity of this type of animals, we leave you with some curious examples of arthropods:

  • sea ​​spiders (Pycnogonum spfor.): are species of the Pycnogonidae family, the only sea spiders that exist.
  • Realize (pollicipes pollicipes): few people know that barnacles are crustaceans, like crabs.
  • European centipede (Scolopendra cingulata): is the largest centipede in Europe. Its sting is very potent, but it is very rarely capable of killing.
  • Lion ant (myrmeleon formicarius): are neuropterous insects whose larvae live buried in the ground under a cone-shaped well. There, they wait for their fangs to fall into their mouths.

Echinoderms (Phylum Echinodermata)

The phylum of echinoderms encompasses more than 7,000 species characterized by having pentarradial symmetry. This means that your body can be divided into five equal parts. It's easy to imagine when we know what kind of animals they are: snakes, lilies, cucumbers, stars and sea urchins.

Other characteristics of echinoderms are their limestone skeleton and their system of internal channels through which seawater flows. Larvae are also very peculiar, as they have bilateral symmetry and lose it as their life cycle elapses. You can get to know them better in this article on starfish reproduction.

Examples of echinoderms

These are some members of the animal kingdom that belong to the group of echinoderms:

  • Indo-Pacific Sea Lily (Lamprometra palmata): like all sea lilies, they live attached to a substrate and have their mouths in a superior position, close to the anus.
  • Swimmer cucumber (Pelagothurianatatrix): he is one of the best swimmers in the sea cucumber group. Its appearance is similar to that of a jellyfish.
  • Crown of thorns (Acanthaster plain): This voracious starfish feeds on cnidarian (coral) polyps.

Strings (Phylum Chordata)

The chordate group includes the best-known organisms in the animal kingdom, as it is the phylum to which human beings and their fellows belong. They are characterized by having a inner skeleton that runs the entire length of the animal. This may be the flexible notochord, in the most primitive chords; or a spinal column in vertebrates.

Furthermore, all these animals have a dorsal nerve cord (spinal cord), pharyngeal clefts, and a posterior tail, at least at some point in embryonic development.

Classification of roped animals

The chordates are divided, in turn, into the following subphylums or types of animals:

  • Urochord: are aquatic animals. Most of them live attached to a substrate and have free-living larvae. All have a protective cover known as a tunic.
  • Cephalochordate: they are very small animals, elongated and with a transparent body that live half-buried under the sea.
  • Vertebrates: includes the best known organisms within the classification of animals: fish and tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals).

other types of animals

In addition to the named phyla, in the classification of the animal kingdom there are many others less numerous and known groups. In order not to let them fall by the wayside, we have gathered them in this section, highlighting in bold the most abundant and interesting ones.

These are the types of animals in the animal kingdom that you do not name:

  • Loricifers (Phylum Loricifera).
  • Quinorinums (Phylum Kinorhyncha).
  • Priapulids (Phylum Priapulida).
  • Nematomorphs (Phylum nematomorph).
  • Gastrotrics (Phylum Gastrotricha).
  • Tardigrades (Phylum tardirada).
  • Onychophores (Phylum Onychophora).
  • Ketognaths (Phylum Chaetognatha).
  • Acanthocephali (Phylum Acanthocephala).
  • Rotifers (Phylum Rotifera).
  • Micrognathosis (Phylum Micrognathozoa).
  • Gnatostomulid (Phylum Gnatostomulid).
  • Equiuros (Phylum Echiura).
  • Sipuncles (Phylum Sipuncula).
  • Cyclophores (Phylum Cycliophora).
  • Entoproctos (Phylum Entoprocta).
  • Nemertinos (Phylum Nemertea).
  • Briozoas (Phylum Bryozoa).
  • Foronides (Phylum Phoronide).
  • Brachiopods (Phylum Brachiopoda).

Now that you know all about the animal kingdom, the classification of animals and the phyla of the animal kingdom, you might be interested in this video about the greatest animals ever found:

If you want to read more articles similar to Animal kingdom: classification, characteristics and examples, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.