September 18, 2013

The amazing diversity of animal life – in pictures

The vast majority of animals with which we share our planet go almost unnoticed, eclipsed by bigger, more charismatic creatures

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Arthropods: a jumping spider, Phidippus audax. Arthropods, which include insects, crustaceans, mites, spiders and crabs, are the largest animal lineage, accounting for 80% of all known animal species Photograph: Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Arthropods: Compound eyes comprising thousands of hexagonal units are a characteristic of many arthropods, including this parasitoid wasp Photograph: Tomas Rak/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Arthropods: a cynipid wasp. Some insects have simple eyes in addition to their compound eyes, three of which can be seen on top of this wasp's head Photograph: Tomas Rak/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Cnidarians: These aquatic animals come in a bewildering variety of forms and include jellyfish, sea anemones, corals, sea pens, sea fans, sea daisies, hyrdoids and hydras. What looks like a single individual is often a colony of polyps with specialised functions. In Porpita (example shown here) there are polyps for providing buoyancy, feeding (in the form of tentacles), digestion and reproduction Photograph: Arthur Anker/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Cnidarians: This one's a jellyfish (Bougainvillia superciliaris) with a hitchhiking amphipod (Hyperia galba) Photograph: Alexander Semenov/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Tunicates: These are exclusively marine. Some have a sponge-like form, living their entire adult lives glued to the spot, while others, like this one (Pegea confoederata), form floating colonies Photograph: Kevin Lee/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Hemichordates: An acorn worm (Ptychodera flava) in its hat-shaped, planktonic stage. The hemichordates are rarely seen and poorly known. They comprise burrowing acorn worms and free-floating, tubular colonies Photograph: Eric Roettinger/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Echinoderms: a sea urchin, Coelopleurus floridanus. The mobile spines offer protection from predators. Since this species lives in relatively deep water, the purpose of its bright pigments is unknown. As well as star-shaped forms, the echinoderms include sedentary species that look a bit like plants, and species that burrow in the sediment Photograph: Arthur Anker/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Brush-heads (Loricifera): Pliciloricus sp. These fantastical creatures were only discovered in 1974 and not described formally by science until 1983. Only a fraction of a millimetre long, the complex anterior structure is called an 'introvert' and sprouts a telescopic mouth cone, several stylets and hundreds of spines. The trunk is encased in plates like a suit of armour Photograph: Phil Miller/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Annelids: Bristle worms, beard worms, spoon worms, peanut worms, earthworms and leeches. Segmentation – clearly visible here – is a distinguishing feature of all the annelids Photograph: Alexander Semenov/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Annelids: a tube-dwelling polychaete (meaning 'many bristles'). Many annelids have elaborate, colourful tentacles for filter-feeding and breathing. The funnel-shaped structure seals the tube when the animal retreats inside Photograph: Alexander Semenov/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Molluscs include slugs and snails, octopuses and squids, chitons, bivalves, scaphopods, solenogasters and caudofoveates. This marine mollusc (Coryphella polaris) is a nudibranch, commonly known as sea slugs Photograph: Alexander Semenov/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Molluscs (Chromodaris annulata): the bold colours and patterns of the sea slugs warn predators of their toxicity Photograph: Arthur Anker/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

Animal Earth: The amazing diversity of Living Creatures — Molluscs: a sea angel (Clione limacia) Photograph: Alexander Semenov/Animal Earth/Thames & Hudson

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