Abstract:A compilation of data on numbers of known species of living and extinct invertebrate animals indicates a total of approximately 1,100,000 of which 86 per cent are arthropods and 79 per cent insects. M...A compilation of data on numbers of known species of living and extinct invertebrate animals indicates a total of approximately 1,100,000 of which 86 per cent are arthropods and 79 per cent insects. Mollusks include about 6 per cent. Discovered kinds of fossil invertebrates aggregate an estimated 80,000, and at least 78,000 of these are marine. It is evident that the paleontological record comprises a minor fraction (about 7 per cent) of the described species of invertebrate life on the globe. Even so, paleontological calibration of the fossil-bearing part of the geologic column depends more on invertebrate remains than on evidence of vertebrate animals or plants, which is explained chiefly by the enormous abundance of invertebrate skeletal parts in marine strata ranging from Lower Cambrian to Recent. Indeed, many marine sedimentary deposits are predominantly composed of such parts.Read More
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-04-23
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 6
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