EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The vertebrates are a group of a phylum known as the Phylum Chordata.

Detailed explanation-2: -Hemichordates, the phylum of bilateral animals most closely related to chordates, could reveal the evolutionary origins of chordate traits such as the nerve cord, notochord, gill slits and tail.

Detailed explanation-3: -Most species within the phylum Chordata are vertebrates, or animals with backbones (subphylum Vertebrata). Examples of vertebrate chordates include fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. A modern human-one species of mammal-is a familiar example of a chordate.

Detailed explanation-4: -Animals in the phylum Chordata share four key features: a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail.

Detailed explanation-5: -Amphibians, which include salamanders, newts, toads, and frogs, are vertebrate animals (in the phylum Chordata) that spend at least part of their life cycle in water.