10/23 - 10/28 (Paleozoic VERTEBRATES and PLANTS) Flashcards
Define Chordates
animals with notochords and a central nerve cord
Define Vertebrates
subphylum of chordates with backbones
What were the earliest chordates like?
soft-bodied and lacking bones
Closest relative of the chordates?
Eechinoderms!
Oldest Chordate? How old?
Yunnanozoon / 525 million years old
What is the first true fish? When did it come about?
Ostracoderms / Upper Cambrian
Name the 3 important fish groups.
Jawless fish / Bony fish / Cartilaginous fish
2 groups of Bony fish?
Ray-finned fishes / Lobed-fin fishes
Give info on jawless fish
AKA Agnathids / Most are extinct / Examples of some today - lamprey and Hagfish
Tell us about the evolution of Fish Jaws.
had mouths that stayed open to allow water flow / added flexibility to a few gill arches for opening and closing, easier water flow / jaws for eating
Give info on Placoderms
Armored fish - heavily armored skulls, plated scales, and
sharp, scissor-like jaws / Peaked in Devonian / Largest was Dunkleosteus (up to 12 m)
Give info on Chrondrichthyes
AKA Cartilaginous fishes / Includes sharks, rays, and skates / Appear in early Devonian / shark VERY successful in la vida.
Give info on Osteichthyes
AKA Bony fishes / Include modern ray-finned and lobe finned fishes / Lobe finned are ancestral to all tetrapods
3 groups of lobe finned fish?
Lung-fish / Coelacanths / Crossopterygians
What obstacles did Amphibians first have to overcome?
Gravity / Desiccation (not dry out) / Reproduction / Breathing
Give info on Labyrinthodonts
First true amphibians (that we know of) / ancestral to all extant
land-living vertebrates.
Define amniote eggs
special eggs that can be laid outside of water without the risk of drying out / instant immature adults too
What organisms first move from water to land? What period?
Plants / Ordovician
Describe the Meganuera
Huge dragonfly, abt .5 meter in length and .75 meters in width.
Describe the Arthropleura
Giant Millipede, abt 8.5 feet long
Who ruled Carboniferous?
Plants and Insects!
Why huge insects in Carboniferous?
High oxygen levels by forests.
Define anapsid, synapsid and diapsids.
A - no openings behind eye / S -one opening behind eye / D - two openings behind eye
3 early reptile groups?
Protorothyrids, Pelycosaurs and Therapsids
Define Protorothyrids
small, agile, early reptiles
Define Pelycosaurs
finbacked, reptile-like animals dominant thru early Permian
Define Therapsids
mammal-like reptiles that were likely endothermic (warm-
blooded) / ancestral to all mammals
What kind of plants were first on land?
Nonvascular plants / Moss, liverworts, hornworts
Give info on Vascular Plants
had special tissues for movement of water & nutrients / Prolly evolved from green algae / First were seedless (ferns)
Give info on Gymnosperms
1st seed plants / Includes modern conifers (pine trees) / male and female ‘cones’ / Seeds allowed them to get on land
How Permian Mass Extinction? how continued?
Volcanic Eruption/ basalt up to 2.5 miles deep in the Russia continent /// largest known Paleozoic coal deposits found exists in the Tunguska Basin, may have been over a hot spot.
Where in Texas do we find Paleozoic rocks?
Mineral Wells State Park / Pedernales Falls State Park / Palo Duro Canyon State Park
