Video Transcript
Which of the following is not a
characteristic of an organism that belongs to the Arthropoda phylum? (A) Being covered by an
exoskeleton, (B) having a bilaterally symmetrical body, (C) being immobile, or (D)
having a body divided into segments.
Arthropoda is an incredibly diverse
phylum. It includes organisms such as
lobsters, spiders, scorpions, beetles, and bees. To answer this question, let’s
start by reviewing some of the characteristics that all organisms belonging to the
phylum Arthropoda share.
First, they all have bilaterally
symmetric bodies. This means they look the same on
both sides. So we can eliminate (B). Also, their bodies are divided into
multiple segments, so we can eliminate (D). And they are covered by a hard
exoskeleton, so we can eliminate (A).
However, we may note that all of
the examples of arthropods that we previously mentioned are organisms that do move
around and therefore are mobile. While there are arthropods that are
not mobile, such as barnacles, immobility is not a characteristic common to all
arthropods.
Therefore, the correct answer is
(C). An organism that belongs to
Arthropoda does not necessarily have the characteristic of being immobile.
