Metazoa - Tree of Life
This homepage was created as part of a school project during a zoology
course at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. It is
meant to give
you an overview of the tree of life concerning the
metazoa, that is to say all
multicellular animals. The sister group (closest relatives) of the
metazoa are the choanoflagellates, based on the similarities between
them and the choanocyte cells in sponges. Traditionally the tree of
life is based largely upon morphological evidence but molecular studies
are nowadays common when trying to understand the complex relationships
between species.
Tree of Life
Choanoflagellate
Choanocyte from Porifera
Bear in mind that this tree of life is by no means complete, or even
correct for that matter,
as many of its branches are still to be resolved. What this
tree is meant to do is to give you an overview of all multicellular
animals and to be an easy-to-use website when studying zoology.