Paleobiology and Human Evolution Flashcards
What are the three main Eras of the Phanerozoic Period, and what are their start dates?
Paleozoic: 550 mya
Mesozoic: 250 mya
Cenozoic: 65 mya
What are the Periods of the Paleozoic Era?
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboiferous, and Permian.
What are the periods of the Mesozoi Era?
Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous
What are the Epochs of the Cenozoic Era?
Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene.
(HINT: PEOM PPH)
What are the 5 main extinction events?
The Ordovician-Silurian Boundary The Devonian-Carboniferous Boundary The Permian-Triassic Boundary The Triassic-Jurassic Boundary The Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) Boundary
What was the largest extinction event, and how long ago?
The Permian-Triassic Boundary, 250 mya
What is a transition Species?
A transition species is the intermediate form between two species.
How can we identify a transitional species?
They can only be identified retrospectively. Basically we can only know by looking at the skeletons past and after the transition species.
Mammals evolved from early what? Define:
Synapsids: Reptilian organism of Permian and Triassic era that had increasing mammalian characteristics.
Define Heterochrony:
The evolutionary change in timing or rate of development.
What is Paedomorphosis? Give an example:
The retention of juvenile traits in a sexually mature organism. Ex) Modern-day dogs have physical and behavioral characteristics of juvenile wolves. Ex 2) Axolotls
Define Peramorphosis:
Peramorphosis is high brain to body size ratio; retaining juvenile growth rates.
Are human skulls Paedomorphosis or Peramorphosis? Explain:
Human skulls are Paedomorphic for skull shape. Adult skulls are very similar to human and chimpanzee fetus.
What are the primate classification groups?
Strepsirrhines: Wet-nosed
Haplorrhines: Dry-nosed
What are the Infraorders of Haplorrhines?
Tarsiiformes and Anthropoidea.
