Exotics - reptiles Flashcards
What order are snakes and lizards in?
Squamata
What order are tortoises and terrapins in?
Chelonians
What family are most snakes in?
Colubrids
What family are the constrictor snakes in?
Boids
What kind of skull do snakes have?
Cranial kinesis - flexible and mobile bones
What bone allows a wide gape in snakes?
Quadrate bone
Do snakes have a mandibular symphysis?
No - instead a very elastic ligament
What is the brain located in?
Brain case - heavily ossified
What bones are used for snake hearing?
Quadrate bone and columella
What bone is the columella equivalent to?
Stapes
How does the snake hear?
The quadrate bone is in contact with the ground so can hear vibrations
What do snakes use for sense of smell?
Vomeronasal organ
What is the opening at the front of the mouth called?
Lingual fossa
What special sense do pit vipers have?
IR detection
Do lizards have a mandibular symphysis?
Yes
What extra special sense do lizards have?
Parietal/third eye - sensitive to changes in light and dark
Which animals have scleral ossicles?
Lizards and tortoises
What distinguishing feature do boids have?
Vestigial pelvis - spurs
What are snake scales made up of?
Folds of epidermis
What covers snake eyes?
Spectacle
Dont have eyelids
What are the ventral scales of a snake called?
Gastropeges - wide, thick single scales
What are the scales of a snake next to the vent called?
Subcaudal scales
What is skin shedding called?
Ecdysis
Where are chromatophores located?
In the dermis - pigment
How often does ecdysis occur?
2-4 times a year
What is it called when the tail falls off?
Tail autonomy
What are features of tortoise eyes?
Movable eyelids
Nictitating membrane
Scleral ossicles
What is the upper shell called?
Carapace
What is the lower shell called?
Plastron
What material is the tortoise shell made up of?
Dermal bone
What are the sections of the tortoise shell called?
Scutes
What are the scutes?
Keratinised epidermal scales - dont overlap with the dermal bone
Do tortoises undergo ecdysis?
Yes of their scutes - bit by bit
What are the scutes on the carapace called? Inside to outside
Vertebral
Pleural
Marginal
(Cervical at neck)
What are the scutes on the carapace called? Cranial to caudal
Gular Humeral Pectoral Abdominal Femoral Anal
How do you sex a tortoise?
Males have: Longer thicker tail Concave plastron Vent beyond carapace Scute over tail on carapace curved/hooked
Which side are organs are more cranial?
Right side are more cranial
What is the main venepuncture site in snakes?
Ventral coccygeal vein
What are the subchambers of a snakes ventricle called?
1st - Cavum venosum
2nd - Cavum pulmonale
3rd - Cavum arteriosum
How does a snakes heart work?
Deoxy - Right atrium to cavum venosum
Ventricle contracts, deoxy blood over ridge to cavum pulmonale
Contracts again, blood to pulmonary artery
Oxy - left atrium to cavum arteriosum
Ventricle contracts, blood through atrioventricular canal
Contracts again, blood into aorta
What is the surface of the cranial snake lung called?
Faveolate/faveolar
Which animals dont have a diaphragm?
Snakes, lizards, tortoises
How many chambers do reptile hearts have?
3
What is the renal portal system?
Where all blood draining the caudal body goes to the kidneys first
What are the 3 body cavities in tortoises?
Pericardial
Dorsal - containing the lungs
Ventral - everything else
What separates the dorsal and ventral cavities in a tortoise?
Post-pulmonary septum
How does a tortoise respire?
Moves head and limbs in and out of the shell
Viscera in ventral cavity pulled down which pulls the post pulmonary septum down
This pulls the lungs out
What is the venepuncture in a tortoise?
Jugular vein
Dorsal coccygeal vein
How do snakes shunt blood?
Sphincter at start of pulmonary artery
What kind of dentition do constrictor snakes have?
Aglyph
How many rows of teeth do snakes have on their mandible each side?
1
How many rows of teeth do snakes have on their upper jaw each side?
2
What is the name of fangs that point backwards?
Ophistoglyph
What is the name for fixed front fangs?
Proteroglyph
What is the name for hinged front fangs and what are they in?
Solenoglyph - vipers
What is a snakes heart like?
Elongates, 2-3 lobes
Do snakes have gall bladders?
Yes
What forms the organ triad in snakes?
Spleen, gall bladder and pancreas
Where is the organ triad found?
Pyloric end of the stomach
What are the 3 parts of the cloaca?
Coprodeum - rectum
Urodeum - urinary and genital ducts
Proctodeum - copulation occurs here
What is a tortoises diet?
Mainly omnivorous, 25% herbivorous
What is a reptiles diet?
Herbivorous/omnivorous
Do tortoises have teeth?
No - horny beak
What is the structure of snake and lizard kidneys?
Lobulated
What have bladders?
Lizards - thin
Tortoises - large
Snakes - no bladder
What kind of testes do snakes have?
Fusiform testes - pale and spindle shaped
What helps to produce seminal fluid in snakes and lizards?
Sexual segment in kidneys
What penis like structure do snakes have?
2 hemipenes
What is the groove in the hemipene called?
Sulcus spermaticus - sperm travels along it
What is the structure of snake ovaries?
Saccular, covered in follicles
What are ovaries near?
Pancreas
Are the gonads cranial or caudal to the kidneys?
Cranial
Where is a lizards/tortoises bladder located?
Comes off the cloaca
What is the structure of the oviduct?
Pleated ribbon
What does the epididymis look like in tortoises?
Black pigmentation
What is the male genitalia of the tortoise?
Engorgement of tissue on cloaca floor that protrudes out the vent
What are reproductive problems in tortoises?
Pre ovulatory egg stasis - follicles form but dont ovulate
Post ovulatory egg stasis - egg stuck due to damage/stress/disease
Where are the kidneys located in tortoises?
Caudal to gonads
Symmetrically placed
