Herpetology (Amphibians and Reptiles Part 1) Flashcards
1
Q
What class of animals are warm-blooded?
A
Mammals
2
Q
How do mammals keep warm?
A
- Body warmth is generated by metabolism
- Endothermic: Obtain heat internally
3
Q
What class of animals are cold-blooded?
A
- Amphibians
- Fish
- Reptiles
- Invertebrates
4
Q
How do cold-blooded animals stay warm?
A
- Body warmth is obtained from the environment
- Ectothermic: Obtain heat externally
5
Q
Are Herptiles cold-blooded?
A
Not truly cold-blooded
- They need to warm their bodies since many of their physiological processes are temperature dependent.
- They maintain body temperature (Tb) within a preferred range
6
Q
Each species has a preferred ____________ ? What does it affect?
A
Has a preferred optimal temperature range or zone (POTR or POTZ)
- Affects their ecology, behaviour, morphology, and physiology
7
Q
What other factors are considered in Ectothermy?
A
- Source of body heat is external and not metabolic
- Require 10-14% of the energy used by similar sized birds/mammals
- Lower metabolic rate (slower healing)
- Can exploit environments of low biological productivity
8
Q
Where does the efficient use of food energy go?
A
Goes to growth/reproduction and not Tb maintenance
9
Q
What is behavioural thermoregulation?
A
Use behaviour to change heat gain or loss to maintain Tb in a range that optimizes physiology
10
Q
How is infrared radiation (solar) is absorbed?
A
- Posture
- Body shape and colour (Change absorptivity)
- Blood flow
11
Q
Behavioural Thermoregulation
A
Convection: Fluid (Air/water)
Conduction: Surface area
Metabolic heat
- Brooding pythons (6-8 C)
- Sea turtles (18-20 C)
12
Q
Thermal gradients are the most important aspect of a ___________ environment?
A
- Reptile’s
- Allows an animal to select a thermal environment that meets its needs
13
Q
What 3 Orders of Class Amphibia?
A
1) Salientia or Anura - Frogs and toads
2) Caudata - Salamanders and Newts
3) Apoda - Caecilians
14
Q
Amphibian Physiology
A
- Dependence on water
- Moist skin
- Absorb water
- Respiration - Plethodon (Lungless salamanders)
- Skin shedding
- Require high humidity
15
Q
What are Amphibians?
A
- Passive ectotherms: Body temperature is dependent on and approximates that of the environment
- Limited behavioural thermoregulation due to risk of desiccation if they are too warm.
Thin permeable skin. Confined to a life close to water
16
Q
Do Amphibian’s lay eggs?
A
Majority lay eggs in water which are not guarded
17
Q
What are the 2 life cycle stages for Amphibians?
A
1) Larval (Tadpole)
2) Metamorphose to adult form
18
Q
Are Amphibians carnivores?
A
Adult amphibians are carnivorous but some of the young are herbivores or omnivores
19
Q
How to care for amphibians?
A
- Use aged/de-chlorinated water at same temperature for tadpoles and aquatic species
- Chlorinated water at same temperature can be used for adults
- If in doubt, mix aged water with tap water
- All spray bottles disinfected monthly - Bottles should be emptied and air dried overnight
- Water (Dishes; freestanding; wet substrate) Always available - Save a life
20
Q
What is involved in handling amphibians?
A
- Wash hands before and after handling
- Skin toxins are irritating to you and frog
- Latex gloves can be used (Not for tadpoles)
- Vinyl or Nitrile gloves
21
Q
How do you feed Amphibians?
A
- Supplements and gut loading
- Feed small amount 3 x per week
- Tong feed supplemented items
- Do not leave live food with sick animals
22
Q
Common food items for amphibians include:
A
- Crickets
- Mealworms
- Fruit flies
23
Q
What are some nutritional diseases for Amphibians?
A
- Spindly leg
- Paralysis (Calcium, thiamine)
- Gout
- Overfeeding; weight regularly - Liver and kidney disease
24
Q
What is involved in sexing?
A
Sexual Dimorphism
- Size
- Colour
- Behaviour:
* Male release call
* Throat punch
* Nuptial pads
* Cloacal swelling
25
Amphibian respiration, cutaneous, buccal, and lung factors are?
- RESPIRATION: Most breathe with gills when young and with lungs when an adult.
- Cutaneous: Blood capillaries within the skin; particularly good at CO2 removal in all species
- Buccal- High dependence on gas exchange in the mouth/oral cavity
- Lung - Variable dependence on this mode - Amphibians possess a 3-chambered heart; most have lungs
26
Significant factors in Amphibian skin:
- Absence of scales - No bony or keratinized scales
- Mucous glands: Keep skin moist, fairly permeable (High water losses possible)
- Amphibian Chemical Defenses:
* Poison glands - Chemistry variable
* Parotid glands
* Skin swellings/bumps
* Sticky, noxious to be very poisonous
* Most alkaloids are acquired from insects
* Water-soluble alkaloids - Tetrodotoxins lipophilic alkaloids - batrachotoxin
- Aposematic colouration (Warning colours)
27
Anesthesia requirements:
- MS 222: Tricaine methanesulphonate
* 1-2 g/L dechlorinated water
* 3 g/L for toads
* Induction: 20 minutes (Loss of righting reflex)
- Benzocaine - 0.2 - .03 mg/L
- Isoflurane: 2-3% - Use induction chamber
- EMLA cream: 2.5% each of lidocaine and prilocaine - Topical (Max 5 minutes)
28
What does Red-legged disease cause?
Red underside of the legs due to hemorrhages, resulting in septicemia
28
Common diseases in Amphibians:
- Viral:
Iridoviruses (Ranavirus spp.)
- Bacterial:
Red-legged disease (Aeromonas hydrophilia
- Fungal:
Chytridiomycosis (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis)
28
What does Iridoviruses (Ranavirus) cause?
- Cause systemic infection generalized swelling
- Hemorrhage
- Limb swelling
- Swollen friable liver
29
What does Chytridiomycosis cause?
- Causes thickening of the skin
- Skin shedding
- Death
29
What are the four Orders from Class Reptilia?
1) Crocodilia (Crocodiles & Alligators)
2) Squamata (Snakes & Lizards)
3) Chelonia (Turtles)
4) Rhynchocephalia (Tuatara)
29
What are Rhynchocephalia (Tuatara)?
- This is the only surviving species in the order Rhynchocephalia
- Looks like a squat lizard with a large head
- Internal structures very different from modern reptiles (i.e. lacks copulatory organs)
- More closely related to extinct forms
- Tuataras are strictly protected by law (CITES 1)
30
Describe Chelonia turtles.
- Water and ocean-going turtles
- Flattened shells and paddle-like feet
- Terrapins refer to fresh water turtles
31
Describe Chelonia tortoises.
- Land turtles
- High shells and 'club-like' feet
32
Chelonia (Turtles and tortoises) characteristics:
- Their body is covered by a plastron below and a carapace above.
- Thoracic, lumbar, and sacral vertebra are fused
- Pelvic and pectoral girdles are inside the rib cage (shell)
33
Describe a turtle & tortoise jaw & head.
Toothless jaws
- Horny beak with sharp edges.
- In most the head can be partially or wholly withdrawn.
34
Reproduction of Chelonia (Turtles & Tortoises)
- Females generally are larger
- Males have a true phallus
Oviparous:
- Female will dig a hole for the eggs with her hind legs
- Eggs have a white chalky shell
- Incubation period ranges from 2-12 months (species and temperature dependent)
35
How many species are from Chelonia (Turtles & Tortoises)?
Approximately 270 species
36
How many species are Crocodilia?
23 species
37
How to distinguish Crocodilia (Crocodiles, Alligators, Caimans, Gavials)?
- Powerful jaws
- Tail is laterally compressed
- There are five toes on the fore limbs and four on the hind limbs
- Well-developed web between toes
- Adapted to live partially submerged
38
What happens when Crocodilia are partially submerged?
- The nostrils, situated at the tip of the snout can be opened and closed by muscles
- Gular flap (Basihyal valve) seals throat - Fold of the epiglottis
- The ears have flaps which can be closed
39
Crocodilia Reproduction
- Male has a true penis
40
Are Crocodilia Oviparous?
Yes, they lay 20-90 eggs
41
What do Crocodilia do for their eggs?
- Some species dig a hole in the sand
- Others make large nests of vegetation up to 1 meter high and 2 meters across and bury their eggs. (Rotting vegetation keeps the eggs warm during incubation)
- The female usually remains near the nest and after the young hatch, sometimes carries them down to the water.
42
How many species are apart of the class Squamata. Family Sauria (Lizards)?
Approximately 3,000 species
43
What does the body look like in Squamata + Sauria?
- Their body is elongated with two pairs of five-toes limbs and a long tail (Some lizards are legless)
- The belly does not have transverse ventral scales typical of snakes but is covered with small horny scales like the rest of its body.
- The limbs are directed horizontally away from the body rather than vertically as is the case with mammals.
- Moveable eyelid (Nictitating membrane reduced/absent)
- Shed skin periodically - Lizard retained skin build up on toes and tail can cut off circulation leading to amputations
44
Reproduction of Squamata, Family Sauria (Lizards)
- Oviparous and ovoviviparous
- Males have a pair of hemipenes
45
What is the adaptation of lizards?
TAIL AUTOTOMY
- If gripped by the tail many lizards can break it off, so that it remains wriggling on the ground while the animal itself escapes
- A nature fracture plate exists, and the muscles and blood vessels are adapted to prevent blood loss.
- Anew tail grows but not full length or colour of original tail
46
How many species are from the Squamata, Family Serpents (Snakes) ? How many are venomous?
- Approximately 2,700 species
- Approx. 250 species are venomous
47
What does a snake's body look like?
- an elongated body, a proportionately short tail and no limbs
- Vestigial limbs in pythons and boas (Cloacal spurs)
- Lack a breast bone, shoulder girdles, ear drum, and tympanic cavity. - They cannot hear airborne sounds, but vibrations are picked up by the inner ear via the bones of the skull.
- Eyelids replaces by a transparent scale that protects the eye (Spectacle)
48
What is Cranial Kinesis?
Jaw articulation (Quadrate and Maxilla) and lack of Mandibular symphysis allow great flexibility for swallowing prey whole.
49
What so snake teeth look like?
Teeth are recurved, loosely attached and replaced regularly
50
Where is the glottis and located in a snake?
Located at the front of the mouth so the snake can breathe while swallowing
51
Do snakes have a left lung?
Reduced or absent
52
What dose the snake's tongue do?
- Flicks in and out picking up scent particles/molecules
- Transferred to Jacobson's Organ:
Chemosensory organ in the roof of the mouth
- Neurons send chemical cues to the brain
- The tongue itself has no sense of taste
53
What heat sensing organs do serpents (Snakes) have?
- Labial pits in boas and pythons
- Loreal pits in pit vipers
54
What is Ecdysis?
Shedding of the skin
55
Shedding of the skin:
2-3 months
- Health
- Temperature
- Food availability
- Age
56
When is the skin Opaque?
3-10 days prior to shedding
- Secrete a thin layer of fluid (Proteolytic enzymes and lymph) between the old and new skin
- Seen in the spectacle covering the eyes
- Impairs vision and the snake will remain in hiding due to is vulnerability
- Best to leave them alone
57
When is the skin clear?
- 2-5 days before shedding - Often high humidity at this time.
- Start by loosening old skin at the lips. Rub against cage furniture or substrates and begins to wiggle out of it
- The outer layer of skin is turned inside out (Like pulling off a sock)
- Normally shed in one piece
58
Reproduction of Serpents:
- Courtship:
- Male combat
- Male rubbing his chin along the back and flanks of the female
- Males possess a pair of copulatory organ (Hemipenes). One is inserted in the female and sperm is transferred
- Sperm storage is common in female snakes. May have a delayed fertilization or several clutches of eggs from the same mating.
- Eggs have parchment-like shells
59
Snakes that are Oviparous means:
- Lay eggs
- Most colubrids and pythons
60
Snakes that are ovoviviparous means:
- Give birth to living young. Female retains unshelled eggs (Covered in a thin membrane)
- Broods them basking frequently
- Give birth and the young emerge from the thin membrane
61
Characteristics of Reptiles:
- Covered with horny scales or plates (Dermis and Epidermis)
- Some lizards and crocodilians have osteoderms (Bony deposits forming scales)
62
Anatomy of a snake:
1) Esophagus
2) Trachea
3) Tracheal lungs
4) Rudimentary left lung
5) Right lung
6) Heart
7) Liver
8) Stomach
9) Air sac
10) Gallbladder
11) Pancreas
12) Spleen
13) Intestine
14) Testicles
15) Kidneys
63
Anatomy of a Turtle?
1) Eye
2) Nuchal scute
3) Central/ventral scute
4) Costal scute
5) Marginal scute
6) Supracaudal scute
7) Head
8) Front paw
9) Carapace
10) Claw
11) Hind paw
12) Tail
13) Esophagus
14) Trachea
15) Lung
16) Heart
17) Stomach
18) Liver
19) Intestine
20) Urinary bladder
21) Rectum
22) Cloaca
23) Anus
64
Anatomy of a Lizard?
65
How do reptiles breathe?
Respiration:
- They breathe by means of lungs (4-30 breaths per minute)
- Lack of diaphragm
- Snakes and lizard's expansion and contraction of ribs
- Chelonians contract the abdominal muscles and change limb position. Pharyngeal pumping
66
The circulatory system in Reptiles:
3 chambered heart
- 2 Atria
- 1 ventricle
Crocodilians have a 4 chambered heart
Monitor pulse by Doppler
- Heart rate = 33.4 x (Weight in kg -0.25)
67
Haematology in Reptiles is similar to ____________?
Birds
68
Haematology consists of?
- Nucleated RBCs
- WBCs:
- Thrombocytes
-- Heterophils
- Eosinophils
- Basophils
- Lymphocytes
- Monocytes - Azurophils
69
The Urogenital system in Reptiles:
- Metanephric kidney (Drained by a ureter like mammals and birds)
- Turtles and most lizards have a bladder (Lost in snakes and crocodilians)
- Uric acid terrestrial and urea/ammonia in aquatics
- Renal portal system (Blood from caudal portion of body filtered through kidneys before returning to heart)
70
How sexing is established in reptiles? (Turtles, Lizards)
Sexually dimorphic
- Size
- Colour
- Crests
- Behaviour/courtship
71
Sexing in snakes? How is it done?
- Snakes have paired hemipenes
- Probing the length of the pocket
- Cloacal swelling
- Tail length ratio
72
Sexing continued:
- Femoral pores
- Cloacal spurs
73
What does Oviparous mean?
Lay eggs
74
What does Ovoviviparous mean?
Retain eggs and pass live young in a thin membrane
75
What does Viviparous mean?
Give birth to live young
76
How to handle a snake?
- Never handle when feeding or after preparing food
- When handling wear gloves if bites are possible
- A hesitant approach can provoke a bite
- If in a cloth bag, the head should be identified and restrained before opening the bag
- Predict movements: Prevent and attack
77
How to handle large snakes?
- Use a buddy
- Grasp just behind the head (Behind mandible) and support the rest of the body
- Large snakes require at least 2 people (1 person for every 3-4 feet of snake)
- Venomous snakes: HIGH DANGER POTENTIAL. DO NOT HANDLE unless trained
78
How to handle small lizards?
- Can pin head of most and lift supporting posterior and legs; beware of hind nails and tail
- Never grab by the tail (Tail autotomy)
- Smaller fast lizards can be pinned with palm of hand; do not put pressure on tail
- Transport in cotton bag in an insulated box
79
How do you handle Medium to Large Lizards?
- Iguanids may be calmed using the Vaso-vagal response (By pressing gently on the eyeball)
- Drop in heart rate
- Catatonic state
- Towel placed over head
- Use shift or transfer box for large lizards
- Restrain head and then another person hold/restrain hind legs and tail
- Injury from bite, front and hind claws, and tail whip
-Gloves
- Secure head behind neck
- Control tail; hind legs with sharp claws
80
Venomous lizards and what to consider?
- Gila monster
- Mexican beaded lizard
- No antivenom
- Enlarged rear teeth
- Can snap sideways quickly
- WEAR GLOVES
81
How do you handle Chelonia (Turtles)?
- Wear gloves; neck can extend to mid shell
- Hold with both hands in rear leg insertion points; sharp claws; keep close to ground and slide into container or along ground; do not pick up by tail
- Transport:
- Cloth bag or plastic/wooden crate
- No cardboard
82
How to handle Crocodilians?
- No advisable
HIGH DANGER POTENTIAL. DO NOY HANDLE unless trained
- Use plywood shields
83
Which Crocodilian has a 4th tooth?
- Alligator
84
Physical Exam in a Lizard consists of?
- Weight
- Skin: Abscesses or swellings, burns, mites
- Head: Rostrum (Abraded), nares (Discharge, salt glands)
- Oral cavity: Teeth, mucosa, glottis
- Musculoskeletal: Limbs (Swelling, digits), palpate, radiograph
- Coelom and cloaca: Palpate, check for eggs in females
85
Physical exam in a snake consists of?
- Weight
- Skin: Dysecdysis, blisters, growths, swellings, mites
- Ventral scutes: Redness, ulceration
- Head: Symmetry, eyes
- Oral cavity: Teeth, mucosa, glottis
- Musculoskeletal: Palpate, radiograph
- Coelom and cloaca: Palpate, check for eggs, mites
86
Physical exam in Turtles consists of?
- Weight
- Respiration: Closed mouth and quiet
- Ventral scutes: Redness, ulceration
- Oral cavity: Mucosa, glottis
- Musculoskeletal: Shell (Symmetry, shape), radiograph
- Cloaca: Discharge
- Head: Examine last - Symmetry, eyes, tympanum
