Lecture 15: The Amniotes Flashcards
Amniotes:
Reptiles and birds + mammal
The amniotes…
- a self-contained waterproof chamber for development, eliminates the larval stage.
- contains 4 membrane layers that are not part of the embryo.
Yolk sac…
Surrounds the yolk nutrients, which is accumulation of nutrients that surrounds the embryo.
Allantois…
stores nitrogenous waste, stores all waste from the embryo. Lies against the chorion so also involved in gas exchange.
3 types of Amniote based on..
number of fenestra (windows) in the skull
No fenestra, turtles, extinct reptiles..
Anapsid
Two fenestra, other reptiles, birds…
Diapsid
One fenestra, mammals…
synapsid
Reptiles:
- 7000 species, many extinct lineages
- paraphyletic (multiple lineages) [isnt a single ancestor from all the reptiles]
- lack of single defining characteristic, other than have an amniotic egg, no feathers (not birds)
- inc. turtles, lizard, snakes, crocodiles, tuatara
Reptile features:
-dry scaly keratinised skin, prevents desiccation and UV
-internal fertilisation, eggs laid on land
-ectothermal -regulate their temp through solar energy
-heavier more ossified skeleton than amphibia, stronger joints, clawed toes
-more complex muscle and nervous systems
4 chambered heart separates oxygenated and deoxygenated blood
ectotherm + & -
pos
-eat less than endotherm (10% of what endotherm eat)
neg
- slow in cold weather therefore vulnerable
Evolution history of reptiles..
- oldest fossile date to the carboniferous (300mya)
- early forms probably fed on invertebrates
- penetrated further inland than amphibians
(reptiles) first amniote radiation in the Permian led to…
anapsid, synapsids and diapsids; diapsids led to lepidosauria (lizards and snakes) and archosauria (crocodiles&dinosaurs)
(reptiles) Second radiation of archosauria led to..
dinosaurs etc
Most reptiles of sustained rapid motion..
- stride is short
- proximal limb segments move on the horizontal plane
- ectothermic, glycolysis rather than oxidative metabolism