Mammals Flashcards
What is a mamma?
Tetrapods, Amniotes, Synapsids
Key features:
- Endothermic
- Respiration with a muscular diaphragm
- Hair that provides insulation
- Mammary glands
- Differentiation of teeth
- Refinement of ear bones
Tetrapod
A four-footed animal
Synapsid
mammals and “mammal-like reptiles” with modifications to skull and skeleton indicative of increase in metabolic rate
Amniote
An animal that develops embryonic membranes
Reptiles vs mammals
Retiles have one ear bone (Dimetrodon)
Mammals have multiple ear bones (Morganucodon)
3 mammalian groups that remain today
Monotremes - egg laying mammals
Marsupials - Give birth to small, embryonic young, have pouch
Placentals - Give birth to fully develop
Australian mammal origins
Monotremes and marsupials descend form ancestors that were on the continent when it detached from Antarctica
Eutherian mammals (rodents) came by island hopping from Indonesia and New Guinea via boats and floating vegetation
2 groups of marsupials
Australidelphia: Found in Australia & New Guinea
Ameridelphia: Found in the Americas
Australidelphia (marsupial) four orders:
Dasyuromorphia
Peramelemorphia
Diprotodontia
Notorycytemorphia
Marsupial morphology
Diverse group (range of sizes)
Morphology reflects function - e.g. dite, locomotion
General mammalian features with modification unique to marsupials
Polyprotodont
Multiple pairs of lower incisors
Diprotodont
One pair of incisors in the lower jaw
-dactyl:
A suffix that indicates “fingers or toes of a particular type or number”
Syndactyly
The normal occurrence of having two or more fused digits in a mammalian species
In many marsupial species syndactyly is common between digits II and III on the hindfoot
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Carnivorous or insectivorous marsupials
Polyprotodont dentition
• Three pairs of ~ equal-sized lower incisors
• Numerous, sharp teeth
• Numbat – teeth reduced in size and fewer incisors
Hindfoot has 5 separate toes (+/- digit 1): NO syndactyly
Forelimb length = hindlimb length
Non-prehensile tail
E.g. Tasmanian devil
Order: Peramelemorphia
Bandicoots and bilbies
Omnivorous marsupials
Long pointed heads and compact bodies
Polyprotodont dentition
- Three pairs of ~ equal-sized lower incisors (not as pointed as dasyuroids)
Hindlimb large with 4 toes:
• Syndactyly digit 2 and 3 fused, digit 1 absent/reduced
Forelimb shorter than hindlimb (→ bounding gait) with well-developed claws (digging)
Non-prehensile tail