Orders Compare And Constrast Flashcards
Caudata (Salamanders) Characteristics
Typical salamander - 4 limbs and long tail
Trunk segmented by costal grooves - facilitate water movement
Some species limbs reduces or entirely lost
Diversity of habitats
Skin glands well developed - both mucous and poison (granular) glands
•Mucous glands - source of pheromones - pre-courtship mate attraction
External fertilization in 2 families, Internal via spermatophore all others
Typically eggs are laid in water, larval stage exception Plethodontids eggs laid on land, hatch directly into juveniles
Salamander larvae similar to juveniles and adults but with gill slits, external gills, aquatic fins
Skeletons entirely of bone, teeth present (compared with anurans)
Larvae lack eyelids
Virtually all salamanders retain some larval or juvenile characteristics as adults
Characteristics of Gymnophiona (Ceacilians)
Elongated, burrowing, either terrestrial or aquatic
Annulated body
Many morphological structures reduced - adaptation for burrowing
Tail reduced or absent
Limbs and girdles absent in extant species
Eyes reduced - covered with skin or bone (Adaption for burrowing)
Left lung reduced or absent (Adaption for burrowing)
Dermal scales present in some species
Chemosensory organ (tentacle) - opens to surface through head aperture form skull
Annuli rings - comparable to costal grooves of salamanders
Primary annulus asscoiated with 1 vertebra
Skull well ossified
Teeth - upper and lower jaw
Little sexual dimorphism
Fertilization internal - protrusible copulatory organ (phallodeum)
Oviparious 70% and viviparous 30%
Eggs laid in water (aquatic larvae) or terrestrial…
Larvae - gill openings, caudal fins, lateral line system, lack tentacles and posses lungs
Larvae either diurnal or nocturnal
Viviparous young - nourished by secretions from oviductal epithelium
Derophagy - young feed on mothers skin (rich in lipids) after being born
Oophagy- developing young inside females oviduct feed on unfertilized eggs and other embryos
Characteristics of Anurans (Frogs and toads)
Cosmopolitan
Skull and vertebral column reductions
Many fused bones
Teeth absent
Tail absent
Limb bond reductions and girdle modification
Tarsals fused and elongated
Ilia elongated for attachment of muscles for jumping|
Reproduction varied
Most external fertilization during amplexus
Most no parental care
Others - brood eggs, larvae or young on limbs, specialized pouches, depressions on back, in vocal sacs or in stomach
Internal fertilization in at least 3 species
Tadpoles - free swimming larvae
Viviparity (live young) - several species
2 types of mucous glands
• Ordinary mucous glands (Provide moist coasting, from cocoons to retard water loss)
• Breeding glands
Granular glands (poison glands)
Skull- broad, reduced bones
• Dermal bones of skull heavily ossified into casques, projections, knobs (hylids)
Larvae (tadpoles)
• Lack true teeth
• oral disc - keratinous jaw sheath
•Internal gills
Metamorphosis
•Profound change in body - internally and externally
•Majority difference between anurans (Larvae very different from adult) and salamander and caecilians (Larvae similar to adults)
Characteristics of Testudinia
Cosmopolitan except for high latitudes and altitudes
High diversity
Shell - incorporates ribs, vertebrae and portions of pectoral girdle
Movement restricted - all vertebrae fused to shell except neck and tail
Ribs fused to lateral portion of carapace
Pectoral and pelvic girdles - medial to rib cage (unique amoung vertebrates)
Turtle shell - carapace (dorsal) and plastron (ventral), joined laterally by bridge
Shell composed of dermal bones covered by external keratinous scute exception (leathery skin soft shell turtles and leatherback sea turtle)
Scutes- not same alignment as underlying bones (adds strength to structure)
Limbs, tail, neck, and head protruding from anterior and posterior openings
Plastron - either solid bone or several bony elements
Shape of shell - high (terrestrial) to flat (aquatic and marine)
Most turtles - carapace and plastron are rigid exceptions (hinged plastrons (front or rear) ability to close body within shell
Skull lacks temporal fenestrae - Anapsid
Teeth absent - replaced by keratinous beak
Limb structure variable
• Marine - paddles with immovable digits
•Freshwater - extensive webbing between digits with some independent mobility
• Terrestrial - stout, club-like, capable of lifting heavy body off substrate, digits reduced, feet with thickened pads
All oviparous
Eggs laid in nest burrow or on surface
No parental care
Males have a “penis” - outgrowth of cloacal wall, contained erectile tissue with groove on dorsal surface guides sperm during copulation
Courtship often elaborate - prolonged interactions before copulation
Eggs laid in fall undergo diapause- resume development in spring with warm weather
Long lived
Longevity, low juvenile recruitment, delayed maturity can be challenged to conservation
Temperature-dependent sex determination in most families
Characteristics of Rhynochocephalia (tuatara)
Restricted to small islands of New Zealand
Automatic plans for tail breakage at specific points
Diapsids skull
Shallow paired out pockets of cloaca - similar to hemipenes of squamates
Acrodont teeth - tooth embedded in jawbone and attached on both sides by lingual and labial pleura of bone
Teeth present on palatine bone
Teeth can wear down - replacement capacity of teeth is limited
Retains lower temporal bar in Diapsids skull - lacks streptostylic quadrate
Osteoderms (thin bony plates in dermis) are absent
Lizard like body
“Spines on back”
Sexual dimorphism- males have more prominent crest, larger body size
Terrestrial
Construct own burrows or use borrows of ground-nesting seabirds
Bask at entrance of burrows, most active at cool night ambient temperatures
Diet - primarily insectivores
Females mate every 4 years
Oviposition- 6-12months after mating
Gravid females migrate from home burrows - dig nest 10-50cm in warm soil
Clutch size 5-15 eggs; laid during a single night
Hatching 11-16 months probably longest incubation period of any reptile
Sex determination - temperature dependent
Sexual maturity - 20years
Long lived
Threatened - intro of rodents, rabbits, birds, and domestic animals
1/2 of population restricted to Stephen’s Island
