Lab 1

Question 1

What are the seven faunal regions?

What species characterize these regions?

Answer 1

• Palearctic
  
  • Shares species with Nearctic regions, taiga regions, some warm and wet regions
  • Rodent families, artiodactyls, etc.
• Nearctic
  
  • Tundra and taiga, desert, forest, grasslands
  • Didelphids, castoridae, etc.
  • Shares species with Palearctic, so grouped together as Holarctic
• Neotropical
  
  • Tropical rainforest
  • Pilosans, primates, marsupials
• Ethiopian
  
  • Some tropical rainforest, shares many species with Neotropical
  • Rodents, primates, artiodactyls, tenrecs, golden moles etc.
• Oriental
  
  • Tropical forest
  • Shares families with Palearctic and Ethiopian regions
  • Colugos, tree shrews, gibbons, tarsiers
• Australian
  
  • Mostly desert, some tropical forest in northern part
  • Monotremes and marsupials are endemics
• Oceanic
  
  • Mammals on remote islands and

Question 2

Label the different parts of the skull

Answer 2

Question 3

What is the foramen magnum?

Answer 3

• Opening that the spinal cord passes through

Question 4

What is the infraorbital foramen?

Answer 4

Allows passage of infraorbital vein, artery, and nerve (visible clearly in elephant skull)

Question 5

What are the occipital condyles?

Answer 5

At the posterior end of the skull. Articulate with the vertebral column and allow for greater movement of the head and neck

Question 6

What are the auditory bullae?

Answer 6

At the anterior end of the skull. Encloses parts of middle and inner ear

Question 7

What is the saggital crest?

Answer 7

Midline ridge of the skull. Attachment point for jaw muscles

Question 8

What is the zygomatic arch? What two bones is it made up of?

Answer 8

Composed of the jugal (anterior) and dentary (posterior) bones. Surrounds and protects the eye and is a place of attachment for jaw muscles

Question 9

What is the mandible?

Answer 9

Lower jaw. Consists of dentary bone and completed posteriorly by the coronoid process, mandibular condyle, and angular process

Question 10

What are the three “roofing” bones?

Answer 10

Nasal, frontal, and parietal

Question 11

What is the postorbital process?

Answer 11

Projection of the frontal bone that marks the upper edge of the eye socket

Question 12

What are the primary and secondary palates?

Answer 12

• Primary palate is the vomer, palatine, and pterygoing
• Secondary palate is the premaxilla and maxilla, tooth bearing portions of the upper jaw. Allows for simultaneous breathing and eating

Question 13

Function of:

Incisors

Canines

Premolars

Molars

Answer 13

• Incisors: Cutting and gnawing
• Canines: Piercing, tearing
• Premolars: Cheekteeth, grinding (deciduous predecessors)
• Molars: Cheekteeth, grinding (no deciduous predecessors)

Question 14

In which orders are rootless teeth found?

Answer 14

Some rodents, horses, rabbits, walrus

Question 15

What are some examples of orders that have homodont dentition?

Answer 15

Toothed whales (odontocetes), cingulata

Question 16

What do monophyodont, diphyodont, and polyphyodont mean? Which orders display these characteristics?

Answer 16

• Monophyodont: One set of teeth (e.g., toothed whales, manatees, walruses)
• Diphyodont: Two sets of teeth
• Polyphyodont: Teeth are replaced multiple times

Question 17

What are hypsodont teeth?

Answer 17

High crowned, deep rooted teeth

Advantageous for herbivores that grind their food to avoid wear on the teeth

Question 18

What are brachyodont teeth?

Answer 18

Low crowned, shallow rooted teeth

Used for shredding and tearing

Question 19

What is the primitive eutherian dental formula?

Answer 19

3/3, 1/1, 4/4, 3/3