Lectures 5 and 6 Flashcards
Monotreme Reproduction
Cloaca present
Testes are abdominal
Mammae lack nipples
Long lactation periods
Female echidnas have folds of skin along the abdomen in place of typical pouch
Order Monotremata
Family Tachyglossidae
Etymology
Tachy = fast speed
Gloss = tongue
Fast tongued
Order Monotremata
Family Tachyglossidae
Thick bodies covered with short spines
Rostrum slender and beak-like
Rostrum bears electro-receptors in Tachyglossus
-Can detect very faint electric signals
Slender, delicate dentary bones
Long protrusible tongue
Limbs powerfully built for digging
-Need to be able to break into ant/termite mounds
AKA “spiny anteaters”
Little hairs on tongue help pick up ants
Electro-receptors on distal tip of beak (only about 200-300 electroreceptors)
Spines protect against predators, do NOT dislodge like porcupine quills
Echidna Love Train
Males awaken from hibernation before females
Smell out females and wait for her to wake up
Sometimes will nudge females to try to wake her up
Female awakens from hibernation and is not immediately ready to mate, she will smell around while males follow her
Males will make hierarchy
Order Monotremata
Family Ornithorhynchidae
Etymology
Ornitho = bird
Rhynch = beak
Bird-like beaked mammal
Order Monotremata
Family Ornithorhynchidae
Semi-aquatic lifestyle
Dense velvety pelage and wooly underfur
Eye and ear openings covered by skin folds when submerged
Webbed feet
Inhabits streams, rivers, and lakes
Primarily hunts on bottom for crustaceans, insect larvae, and other food
Take refuge in burrows in stream banks
Primarily NOCTURNAL mammals
Monotypic family: Only ONE species
Young have teeth, but teeth are absent in adults
Egg tooth used for hatching
Gums covered by horny plates
Platypus Bill
40k electroreceptors
60k mechanoreceptors
Mechanoreceptors detect by touch
Electroreceptors detect faint electric signals (i.e. heartbeat); platypus finds food by sweeping head back and forth like a mine sweeper or metal detector
Platypus Spurs
Males have medially directed spurs on ankles
Connected to venom glands
Venom production increases during breeding season
Function:
- True answer UNKNOWN
- Intraspecific competition (fight other males)
- Subdue females for mating (not supported well, venom pretty strong and could potentially cause damage)
Adaptive Radiation of Crown Mammals
Monotremes: 5-7 extant species
Marsupials
Placentals
Class Mammalia Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria
Metatherians and eutherians diverged in ___________
late Jurassic
Infraclass Metatheria
Known as marsupials for the marsupium
-Only ~50% living marsupials have marsupium
Give birth at early stage of development
- Short gestation, long lactation
- Choriovitelline placenta (lack villi)
2 Centers of diversification:
Modern centers of diversity are the Australian region and the Neotropics (S and C America)
Metatherian Morphology
Function of palatal vacuities is to allow for extra vascularization
Palatal vacuities present on cranium (Good way to ID marsupials)
Medially inflected angular process on dentary
Hindfeet may be specialized
-e.g. for arboreal or saltatorial (leaping) locomotion
Epubic bones present
Marsupium may be present
Koala Toes
Big toe opposable
Used to grasp branches (common in arboreal mammals)
Syndactyly: 2nd and 3rd digits fused
Bandicoot toes
Hopping like kangaroos
Long plantorial surface (common in hopping animals)
Tree kangaroo toes
Secondarily adapted to arboreal habit
No opposable big toe, evolved primitive grasping function
Epipubic bones in Virginia opossum
Paired epipubic bones: Come off pubis/pelvic girdle
Role:
- Initially thought to support pouches, but ALL marsupials have epipubic bones, NOT all have pouches; bones are present in males, too (most don’t have pouches, a few males do)
- ACTUAL purpose: Point of origin for muscles involved in locomotion
Monotremes also have epipubic bones
Hopping marsupials have ___________ pouches
Anterior-facing
Allows for CURSORIAL locomotion
Burrowing marsupials have ____________ puches
Posterior-facing
Protects young from dirt
Metatherian Paleontology
Fossil record dates to early Cretaceous of Asia (140-130Mya)
-But diverged from Eutheria much earlier than this
Souther continents served as centers of metatherian radiations
Metatherians reached Australia via Antarctica
Antarctica and Australia contiguous until about 55Mya
S America (mostly) isolated
S American radiation rivaled that in Australia
-Diversification about 140Mya in Asia
Most living metatherians found in Australia
Evolved from basal insectivorous or omnivorous mammalian stock
Lots of convergence with eutherians
Over 130 living and fossil genera
-Not a very diverse group now, historically diverse group