Chapter 1: The Diversity, Classification, and Evolution of Vertebrates Flashcards
What does Chondrichthyes mean?
Fish that have cartilaginous skeletons
What species belong to the Chondrichthyes?
Sharks, Rays, skates, and Ratfishes
Which animals are warm-blooded?
Mammals and birds
What animals are cold-blooded?
Amphibians, reptiles, and fish
What does the word “amnion” mean?
The innermost extra-embryonic membrane of amniotic that surround the embryo
What species of vertebrates are Amniotes?
Mammals, birds, and reptiles
What does Osteichthyes mean?
Bony fish
What does “agnathan” mean?
Jawless vertebrates
What species of vertebrates lack jaws?
Hagfishes and lampreys
Define the term Synapomorphy
Shared characteristics
Primitive is…?
What the ancestor had
Derived is…?
What the descendant has
What mammals belong to the monotremes?
Echidna and the duck-billed platypus
What mammals belong to the marsupials?
Kangaroos, opossums, wombats… (etc)
Define Cladistic
A classification system that is based on the branching sequences of evolution
Recognizes only groups of organisms that are related by common descent
Amphibians
Salamanders, frogs, caecilians
True or False
Amniotes are more terrestrial than non-amniotes?
True
What do you need to be terrestrial?
An efficient system to
1) extract oxygen from the air and transport it via the circulatory system to the tissues
2) eliminate waste products while retaining water
3) keep body temperature stable as external temperature changes
What species belong to the Sauropsid Amniotes?
Reptiles: turtles, tuataras, lizards, snakes, crocodiles, birds
What species belong to the Synapsid Amniotes?
Mammals: monotremes (prototheria), marsupials (metatherians), and placentals (eutherians)
Turtles (testudinia)
The only vertebrates with the shoulders (pectoral girdle) and hips (pelvic girdle) inside the ribs
Alligators and crocodiles (crocodilia)
- These animals are in the same evolutionary lineage as dinosaurs and birds
- Their skin contains many bones (osteoderms) that act as armor
What is a placenta?
A structure that transfers nutrients from the mother to the embryo and removes the waste products of the embryo’s metabolism
True or false?
Placentals have a short gestation period
FALSE
They have a long gestation period while marsupials have a short gestation and give birth to very immature young that continue their development attached to a nipple
Non-Amniotes
The embryo of non-amniotes are enclosed and protected by membranes that are produced by the reproductive tract of the female
How are Hagfishes unique among vertebrates?
They lack many features that characterize most vertebrates (ex: they have no trace of vertebrae)
Define systematics
The evolutionary classification of organisms
What are two broad categories of bony fish?
Ray-finned fish (actinopterygians)
Lobe-finned fish (sarcopterygians)
Define Phylogenetics
Phylogenetic’s pertains to the development of an evolutionary lineage
Define Characters
Characters are any identifiable characteristics of an organism. Characters can be anatomical, behavioral, ecological, or physiological
What is a Cladogram?
A branching diagram representing the hypothesized relationships of taxa
Define Taxon
Any scientifically recognized group of organisms united by common ancestry
Define Parsimonious
In evolutionary biology, the hypothesis that requires the fewest changes from ancestral to derived character states
What are the major groups of vertebrates?
- Fish
- Amphibians
- Reptiles
- Mammals
- Birds
