Animal Diversity II: Vertebrates

BIO 101

Life Science

Dr. D. L. Daley

 

Phylum Chordata

w  Four features that all chordates have at some time in their life cycles

   Notochord - long stiff rod - helps support the body

   Dorsal, hollow nerve cord

   Pharynx with gill slits (used in filter feeding)

s   Pharynx functions in respiration as well as feeding in many chordates

   Post-anal tail

s   Important in locomotion in many chordates

Chordate Classification

w  Urochordata - tunicates

w  Cephalachordata - lancelets

w  Vetebrata - animal with a backbone

Urochordata - Tunicates

w  Surrounded by a leathery “bag” called a tunic

w  Tadpole larva with notochord extending to tail

w  Undergo metamorphosis into adult form

w  Sea squirts & relatives

 Sea Squirts

 

 

 

Cephalochordata - Lancelets

w  Typically burrow into the bottom

w  Fishlike body

w  Filter feeders

Vertebrates

w  Agnatha - jawless fish

w  Chrondrithyes - cartilaginous fish

w  Osteichthyes - bony fish

w  Amphibia - frogs, salamanders & others

w  Reptilia - snakes, lizards & turtles

w  Aves - birds

w  Mammalia - mammals (bats, whales, primates, horses, cows, rabbits, dogs and cats)

Agnatha

w  Jawless vertebrates

w  Hagfish - prey on marine worms & scavenge for weakened or dead organisms

   Produce lots of slime as a defense

w  Lamprey - most are parasites

   Attach to side of a fish with oral disk with horny teeth - feed on the insides of the fish

   Larval form matures in freshwater & then migrates to the sea

Hagfish and Lamprey

 

 

 

Chrondrithyes - Cartilaginous Fish

w  Sharks, rays, skates and ratfish or chimaera

w  Cartilage skeletons & no swim bladder or lung

w  Spiral valve in intestine

w  Scales - small bony plates - backward pointing hooks

Sharks and Rays

 

 

 

 

Osteichthyes - Bony Fish

w  Swim bladders - adjustable flotation device

w  Lobed finned fish

   Lungfishes - one or two lungs - freshwater

   Coelacanths - have lungs - marine

w  Ray finned fish

   Most diverse group

   Paddlefish & Sturgeons

    Gars & Bowfins

   Trout, perch, eels, tuna & sea horses

Bony Fish

 

 

 

 

Amphibians

w  Salamanders - live in temperate & tropical regions

   Spawn in water - larval form matures in the water

   All carnivorous

Amphibians

w  Frogs and Toads

   Mucous glands - keeps skin moist - slip away from predators

   Poison glands - many are neurotoxins

   Have sticky-tipped tongue for prey capture

Amphibians

 

 

 

 

Amphibians

w  Caecilians

   Wormlike amphibians - no legs

   Live by burrowing through moist soil

   Eat insect and earthworms

   Most are Blind

Reptiles

w  Tough dry scaly skin - restricts water loss

w  Fertilization of eggs is internal

w  Have amniote eggs - eggs  that have membranes to retain                          water, protect and                       metabolically support                                 the developing embryo

   Now embryo can hatch                                         on land

Turtles

w  Body enclosed in two part shells of dermal plates fused to vertebrae & ribs

w  Jaws without teeth

Lizards, Worm Lizards & Snakes

w  Body covered with dermal scales - skin shed periodically

w  Jaws with teeth

More Snakes

 

 

 

 

Crocodilians

w  Crocodiles, alligators and caimans

w  First vertebrates -  4 chambered heart

   Separate respiratory circuit & systematic circuit

w  Stout body - two pairs of limbs - webbed clawed toes

Crocodilians

 

 

 

 

 

Aves - Birds

w  Only organism to grow feathers

   Feathers - lightweight - insulation and flight

w  Scales on feet only

w  Tetrapod with forelimbs modified as wings

Flightless Birds

w  Ostriches, rheas, cassowaries, emus & kiwis

w  Sternums shaped like flat-bottomed boats without keels for flight muscle attachment

All Other Birds

w  Deep sternal keels for attachment of flight muscles

w  Good fliers except some like penguins, have secondarily become flightless

Mammals

w  Hair (maintain body temp) & mammary glands

   Females feed young with milk

w  Care for young for extended periods

w  Most mammals secure, cut and sometimes chew food before swallowing it

Monotremes

w  Egg-laying mammals

w  Adults lack teeth

w  Duck-billed platypus & echinas (2 species)

Marsupials

w  Pouch - marsupium on the mothers belly

w  Most are unique to Australia - free from competition from placental mammals

w  Examples are kangaroos and opossums

Marsupials

 

 

 

Neonate Marsupial & Joey in Pouch

 

 

 

 

Placental Mammals

w  Placenta - spongy - blood filled filled tissue of maternal and fetal origin

   Forms in mothers uterus - delivers nutrients and oxygen & removes wastes

w  Placental mammals grow faster & most are born fully formed

Assorted Mammals

 

 

 

 

Whales

 

 

 

 

 

Primates

w  Prosimians - lemurs, tarsiers and lorisers

   Arboreal - tree dwellers

w  Simians - monkeys and apes

   Hominids - Apes and humans