Mikey Flashcards
(21 cards)
Four orders of reptilia in straya (plus NZ)
Crocs (2 species found in Oz), Turtles (22 sp in Oz), Squamates (801 species), Tuatara (dragony lizard things) in NZ
Difference between systematics, taxonomy, phylogeny
Taxon - gives names
Phylog - gives evolutionary history
System - combination of both
Common feature of archosaur group
Birds + Crocs - hard shelled egg
How old are crocs, where are they distributed and how are they different to alligators?
2 species?
240 mil years Tropical Rounded head and fourth tooth protuding freshies - johnstoni salties - porosus
Differece between turtles vs tortoises
Turtles - web feet Tortoise - Club feet (no tortoises in oz)
2 families of freshwater turtles?
2 Families of salties?
Chelidae - side necked turtles
carettochelydidae - pitted shell turtle
Cheloniidae - green/loggerhead/hawksbill turtle
Dermochelyidae - Leatherback turtle
Lizard families of Oz
Gekkonidae Pygopodidae (legless) Scincidae (skinks) Agamidae (dragons) Goannas (Varanidae)
Gekko facts?
Nocturnal 110 sp in oz tail autotomy (drop tails) Vocal Varying feet structure (some sticky by tiny hairs!)
Subfams of gecko
Banded gekkos (eublopharinae - only in North America oldest)
Knob tails/leaf tails/chameleon - Carphodactynilae
Spiny tails- Diplodactylinae
Gekkoninae
Example of derived character uniting gekkos except eublopharinae and not found in ‘outgroups’ (blue tongued lizard for example)
Fixed spectacle (no moving eyelid) Also known as synapomorphy
Example of derived character uniting only carpho and diplo
More scalloped pupil in eye
Unique Feature of gekkoninae
synapomorphy of all geckos
Hard Shelled egg (autapomorphy)
Clutch of only 2 eggs
Pygopodidae
Tail droppers
Only found in Oz and PNG
34 species
Insectivores
5 diffs between snake and pygopodidae
Have leg flaps (leftover from full legs) Longer tails with increased vertebrae number than snake Can vocalise Have ears Tongue is fleshy (Snake has forked)
Evolutionary history of pygopodidae?
Non - monophyletic group (paraphyletic)
Specialised gecko from carphodactylinae
Scincidae sp number and common features?
365 species
autotomy
lives in top layer of soil
eyelids sometimes sealed over with a window (halfway between lizard and gecko)
Why is the pygmy blue tongue interesting?
Was thought to be extinct in 1950 then rediscoveres in a snake stomach!
Also their tongues are UV
What do fossorial skinks show?
(burrowing) The lack of limbs as lizards evolved to not need them
Features of Agamidae
Dragons 65 sp.
sit and wait, fast-moving
Can change colours/visual displays
Who is Mungoon-Gali?
Megalania Prisca
Giant goanna around 5.5 m long
Poisonous bite part of megafauna
In aboriginal culture
Why are the lizards considered a paraphyletic group?
Becauses serpientes (snakes) have evolved from and within the snakes.
