Essential Animals

This book provides a brief introduction to each of the 36 phyla of living animals. A short summary is given of every phylum: its general characteristics, number of species, ecology and evolutionary relationships, along with an illustration of each, and an indication of their position on the most recent phylogenetic trees. The aim of this is to give readers an overview of the diversity of animal life, to show that the Animalia are more than just vertebrates and insects.