Phylum Arthropoda includes over 900,000 species of animals with jointed legs and segmented bodies, including insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and others. They make up over 82% of all living things and have characteristics like an exoskeleton made of chitin, a segmented body, and jointed appendages for locomotion and feeding. Arthropods have open circulatory systems, respiratory systems adapted for terrestrial or aquatic environments, and undergo metamorphosis during development. They play important ecological roles as pollinators, decomposers, predators, and more.