Arthropods in film Arthropods in film Arthropods, mainly insects and arachnids, are used in film either to create fear and disgust in horror and thriller movies, or they are anthropomorphized and used as sympathetic characters in animated children's movies. There are over 1,000,000 species of arthropods, including such familiar animals as ants, spiders, shrimps, crabs and butterflies. Early 20th century films had difficulty featuring small insects due to technical difficulties in film-stock exposure and the quality of lenses available. Horror movies involving arthropods include the pioneering 1954 "Them!", featuring giant ants mutated by radiation, and the 1957 "The Deadly Mantis". Films based on
Small shelly fauna mostly of unknown origin. However it is known that some, including "Microdictyon", were produced by lobopods, animals that looked like worms with legs and are thought to be close to the ancestors of arthropods. Univalved and bivalved shells are fairly common. Some cap-shaped shells are thought to be the only sclerite covering their creators, while others are known to be parts of a more complex armor system like "Halkieria"’s. The Helcionellids are thought to be early molluscs with somewhat snail-like shells. Some have horizontal "exhaust pipes" on the concave edges of their shells, and there is debate about whether these