chordate
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- The Natural History Collections of the University of Edinburgh - Invertebrate Members of the Phylum Chordata
- Biology LibreTexts - Chordate
- National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Chordate evolution and the three-phylum system
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa - Exploring Our Fluid Earth - Phylum Chordata
- University of California Museum of Paleontology - Introduction to the Vertebrates
- Key People:
- William Bateson
- Related Topics:
- reptile vertebrate tunicate cephalochordate protochordate
chordate, any member of the phylum Chordata, which includes the vertebrates (subphylum Vertebrata), the most highly evolved animals, as well as two other subphyla—the tunicates (subphylum Tunicata) and cephalochordates (subphylum Cephalochordata). Some classifications also include the phylum Hemichordata with the chordates. As the name implies, at some time in the life cycle a chordate possesses a stiff, dorsal supporting rod (the notochord). Also characteristic of the chordates are a tail that extends behind and above the anus, a hollow nerve cord above (or dorsal to) the gut, gill slits opening from the pharynx to the exterior, and an endostyle (a ...(100 of 2811 words)