Rise of Marine Reptiles Flashcards
geology final
Why was aquatic adaptation common in Mesozoic reptiles?
because of their metabolism
what was metabolism of Mesozoic reptiles
ecototherm (cold blooded)
Why would ectotherms adapt to the water instead of the land?
water temperatures don’t shift so fast
water temperatures are more stable than land temperatures
so cold blooded animals could use the water to have a certain body temperature
land temps drop fast at night once the sun is set
What is morphology?
body structures
what is a helpful model or image to help picture the body morphology of an aquatic reptile?
like a submarine or boat bottom , oars , paddles
What type of body did aquatic reptiles have
long …. fusiform ( like fuselage of plane) like a submarine shape
what is fus i form
tapers off at both ends like submarine
what were aquatic reptile tails like?
elongated (lengthened ) and flattened on the sides (laterally)
What were limbs of aquatic reptiles like?
modified
broad flattened
flippers
what was the happened to head length of aquatic reptiles?
head elongated
What was most common tooth shape of aquatic reptiles
conical (cone shaped teeth)
What were conical teeth good for eating
fish soft animals that could tear apart
how many tooth types in aquatic reptiles and what were they?
2
conical and flat
What were flat massive teeth good for in aquatic reptiles
breaking up grinding shells
what did aquatic reptiles with flat teeth eat
molluscs (had shells to grind)
The were 6 important groups of aquatic reptiles in the Mesozoic era separated across triassic jurassic and cretaceous what memory prompt might help?
Maybe like a pink crocodile at night
P N Ic C P M
1. placoderm (triassic)
2. nothosarus (triassic)
3.iCthyosaurus (late triassic-cretaceous)
- crocodile (start triassic as terrestrial)
adapted to marine jurassic - P leisosaurs (jurassic to cretaceous)
- M ososaurs (cretaceous)
what does root of plac in placo derm mean?
armor covering like plaque on teeth
What were placoderms teeth like?
rounded blunt (not pointy)
so what eat? good at crushing
so ate shells
Which aquatic reptile of group first to invade sea?
notho saurus (maybe think north star that seaman look for
What kind of limbs did notho saurs have?
paddles (first in sea after all makes sense)
What did nothosaurs give rise to?
pleisosaurs
What does pleiso saur mean in greek?
nearer to lizard so the pleiso saur was more and more reptile like as amphibians replaced
What was body of pleiso saur like?
long neck long tail large( flipper like) limbs
which mososaur mean??
just means found near moso river
