Animalia - Vertebrates Flashcards
Urochordata
Tunicates/Sea Squirts.
- Short-lived larvae which metamorphasize into sponge looking bulbous shapes
- Siphon-feeder
Cephalochordata
Lancelets
- Blade-like organisms that filter material through gill like structures
Myxini
Hagfish.
- Resemble lamprey, skulls composed of cartilage without jaws
- Extreme slime producers
Petromyzotida
Lamprey species
- Parasitic species with no jaw like hagfish
Chondrichthyes
Sharks: cartilaginous, streamline fish, lateral line system.
- Have a cloaca opening for reproduction
- Reproduction is either oviparous, ovoviviparous, or viviparous
Rays and Skates: flattened dorsoventrally and bottom dwellers.
- Wing-like structures as pectoral fins
- Some have venomous barbs for protection
Actinopterygii
Ray-finned fish
- Bony endoskeleton, lateral line system, scales, gills covered by the “operculum,” and a swim bladder
- Usually oviparous
Actinistia
Lobe-finned fish
- Bony endoskeleton, lateral line system, scales, gills covered by the “operculum,” and a swim bladder
- Usually oviparous
Dipnoi
Lungfish: leftover ability to breath oxygen.
- Bony endoskeleton, lateral line system, scales, gills covered by the “operculum,” and a swim bladder
- Usually oviparous
Urodela
(Class Amphibia) Salamanders
- Breath through lungs or gills
- Tail remains as an adult and walk by undulating back and forth on legs
Anura
(Class Amphibia) frogs and toads
- Larvae are known as tadpoles and loose their tails when mature
- Have a sticky tongue for catching prey
- Breath through their skin
Apoda
(Class Amphibia) Caecilians resemble snakes and worms.
- Legless and mostly blind
- Entirely tropical species
Chelonia
(Class Reptilia) Turtles
- Environment varies from marine to terrestrial
- Hard shell for protection
- Lay eggs on land
- Gas exchange through mouth and/or cloaca
Squamata & Tuataras
(Class Reptilia) Snakes and Lizards respectively
- They have a 3-chambered heart
- Ectodermic: cold-blooded and thus need solar radiation to heat up
- Snakes can’t hear, but can see in IR and kill by constriction or venom
- Some lizards are can hear
Crocodilia
(Class Crocodiles & Alligators) Large lizard-like organisms.
- Spend most of the time in water and breath through nostrils
Birds (old class Aves)
- Covered with feathers
- Hollow bones and light weight for flight
- 4-chambered heart
- Males have shrunken testes, and females have ovaries
- High hemoglobin, and sugar for efficient circulation
- Large brain and only thermophile
