General Biology II · Module 12 · Animal diversity

Animal Diversity Lab

Build a body plan and watch the animal morph and find its branch on the tree; compare protostome and deuterostome embryos; key out mystery animals and read trees; match features to groups; and work through real cases. Nothing here is graded.

Part 1: Body Plan Builder

Choose traits on the right. The animal morphs to match, its cross-section updates, and its branch lights up on the animal tree.
Ectoderm Mesoderm Endoderm Body cavity Path on the tree to your animal Deepest branch that still fits (no exact match)
Classification readout
MeasureValue

Each phylum is described by its typical adult body plan, simplified: sponges are shown without symmetry (a few are radial), echinoderms are scored by their five-part adults (their larvae are bilateral), arthropod body cavities are counted as a reduced coelom, and chordate segmentation (muscle blocks) is accepted either way. The tree is the current DNA-based working hypothesis with some branches collapsed. Animation speed is exaggerated.