Characteristics of Classes, Orders, Families, and Genera of Thailand

Class Chondrichthyes(sharks, rays, skates)

cartilaginous fish

Class Osteichthyes

bony fish

Order Siluriformes(catfish)

Most catfish possess leading spines in their dorsal and pectoral fins

Order Cypriniformes(carps, minnows)

Body compressed; rounded abdomen or with a sharp edge.

Barbels present or absent, wide gill opening.

3 branchiostegal rays. ...

Jaws with no teeth but having strong pharyngeal teeth (key character of carps).

Order Anabantiformes family channidae(snakehead fish)

elongated, snake-like bodies, long dorsal fins, and ability to breathe air using suprabranchial organs

Class Amphibia

Mucus glands in their skin, permeable skin to water, papilla amphibiorum, and levator bulbi muscle

Order Gymnophiona(cacellians)

legless amphibians

Order Urodela(Salmanders)

costal grooves(some, simplified skull, no middle ear cavity or eardrum)

Order Anura(frogs and toads)

"without tail"

Class Reptilia

Ectotherms, scales or scutes, egg reproduction

Order Squamata(snakes and lizards)

elongate cylinder with a well-defined head separated from the trunk by a prominent neck, and four well-developed limbs supported by pectoral and pelvic girdles

Family Elapidae; Coral Snakes

venomous, short fangs at front of mouth, some terrestrial, some aquatic

Family Lacertidae (wall and rock lizards)

Small-medium size, fast, long tails, small scales, seen during the day

Family Agamidae (Agamids)

rough scales, oldworld iguanids, often have a crest on neck, found on tress and plants during the day

Family Varanidae, genus varanus(water monitors)

Diurnal, robust bodies, forked tongues, mostly carnivores

Family Gekkonidae(Geckos)

great climbers, some have adhesive toe pads

Family: Colubridae (colubrids)

Mostly NON-venomous

Lack Pelvic Girdle

Lack functioning left lung

Many are rear-fanged

Highly flexible jaws

Order Testudines(Chelonians)(turtles, tortoises, and terrapins)

bony protective shell consisting of an upper portion (the carapace), lower portion (plastron), and an interconnecting region (known as the bridge).

Order Crocodilia(Crocodiles, alligators, and gharials)

large, powerful, semiaquatic reptiles with short webbed feet, powerful tails, and tough, armored scales covering the dorsal surface

Family Scincidae(Skinks)

long bodies, smooth scales, relatively small legs, found on ground

Family Pythonidae(Boas and pythons)

Non-venmous, ambush predators, kill by constriction, can sense radiant heat via heat pit organs

Family: Viperidae(vipers)

venomous, long hinged fangs, some species have heat-sensing pits

Class Aves(Birds)

feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton

Order Ciconiiformes(storks)

long legs and elongated toes with slightly webbed feet, Ansiodactyl

Order Pelecaniformes(herons, egrets,ibis)

medium to large aquatic birds with totipalmate feet (all four toes joined by web), Ansiodactyl

Family Ardeidae(herons)

Medium-large, long legs and necks, freshwater and coastal, Ansiodactyl

Family Accipitridae(hawks, eagles, kites, harriers, old world vultures)

brown, black, or gray in color and have strong, sharp talons and hooked bills. Their eyes are yellow, red, or hazel. They can have wingspans from 18 inches to 9 feet. Females are usually larger than males. ansiodactyl

Order Charadriiformes(shore birds)

plumage patterns in white, grays, browns, and black, and many have bright red or yellow feet, bills, wattles, eyes, or mouth linings. A few species have both dark and light plumage phases. ansiodactyl

Order Suliformes(cormorants, gannets)

large in size, with long wings and webbed feet, ansiodactyl

Family Alcedinidae(kingfishers)

small-medium, colorful, large heads, large sharp bills, short legs, short tails, swoop on prey from perch, brightly colored, syndactyl

Family Coraciidae(rollers)

They have compact bodies, short to moderately long necks, large heads, rather long bills, small feet, and ample wings. ansiodactyl

Family Phalacrocoracidae(Cormorants)

Medium-large birds, piscivores, diving birds, can propel self under water, ansiodactyl

Order Strigiformes(owls)

well-developed talons, soft plumage, and notoriously silent flight. Their legs are strong, and feathered in many species; they have zygodactyl feet that can shift to ansiodactyl.

Order PiciformesI(wood peckers, barbets, toucans)

long hard beaks and eat fruits, vegetation, and insects, zygodactyl

Family Bucerotidae(Hornbills)

omnivorous, bills topped with horny casques, females seal themselves into nests with young

Family Columbidae(Pigeons and doves)

stout bodies, short necks, short legs, short slender bills, +/- fleshy ceres, eat seeds fruits and plants, variable size

Order Cuculiformes(Cuckoos)

have long tails, conspicuous head crests, stout beaks, and colorful feathering, arboreal, zygodactyl, can eat insects, small vertebrates, and fruits, can be parasitic

Order Passeriformes(songbirds/perching birds)

Ansiodactyl, songbirds, can be colorful, usually small but some can be larger(corvids)

Class Mammalia

have hair or fur; are warm-blooded; most are born alive; the young are fed milk produced by the mother's mammary glands; and they have a more complex brain than other animals

Order Chiroptera(bats)

more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium.

Order Carnivora

Carnassial teeth

Family Canidae(Canines)

long muzzles, upright ears, teeth adapted for cracking bones and slicing flesh, long legs, and bushy tails

Family Felidae(Felines)

rounded, flat faces, facial whiskers, large eyes, and large ears

Family Ursidae(bears)

arge animals and have small, rounded ears; pointed snouts; small eyes; and short tails. They have large paws with five strong claws that they use for digging, climbing, and catching their prey. Bears can stand and walk on their hind legs

Family Mustelidae (weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks, wolverines)

fur, a slender body, a flexible spine, short limbs with five digits, nonretractable or partially retractable claws, developed canine teeth, large secretory scent glands for territorial marking

Order Rodentia(rodents)

one pair of incisors in each jaw (upper and lower)

incisors grow continuously.

incisors lack enamel on the back of the tooth (and are worn down with use)

a large gap (diastema) behind incisors.

no canine teeth.

complex jaw musculature.

baculum (penis bone)

Family Sciuridae(Squirrels)

ong muscular legs, long arms, large ears, and long bushy tails

Family Cricetidae(True hamsters, voles, lemmings, new world rats and mice)

small, wide range of habitat and diets, variable tail lengths, hairless or furry tails

Family Muridae(Old world rats and mice)

sciurognathous jaws (an ancestral character in rodents) and a diastema is present. Murids lack canines and premolars. Generally, three molars (though sometimes only one or two) are found, and the nature of the molars varies by genus and feeding habit.

Order Eulipotyphla(Shrews, moles, hedgehogs)

"fat and blind"

Family Erinaceidae(hedgehogs, gymnures, moonrats)

shrew-like in form, with long snouts and short tails. They are, however, much larger than shrews

Family Soricidae

insectivores having a mobile snout that is covered with long sensitive whiskers and overhangs the lower lip. Their large incisor teeth are used like forceps to grab prey; the upper pair is hooked, and the lower pair extends forward.

Family Talpidae(True moles, shrew moles, desmans)

small, dark-furred animals with cylindrical bodies and hairless, tubular snouts

Family Hystricidae(old world porcupines)

large, heavyset, slow-moving animals that rely on their imposing quills for defense rather than on speed or agility, nocturnal, terrestrial, herbivorous, burrow

Family Spalacidae(Blind Mole Rats, Mole-Rats, Roots Rats, Bamboo Rats, and Zokors)

Bulky, slow, herbivores, extensive burrow systems, natural hosts for Talaromyces marneffei

Family Cervidae(Deer)

ruminants, males have antlers, social

Family Bovidae(Cattle, sheep, goats)

Ruminants, herbivorous

Family Tragulidae(chevrotains/mouse deer)

herbivores. solitary or pairs, smallest hoofed mammal, mostly from Asia, one from Africa

Family Suidae(pigs and boars)

non-ruminant, poor vision, keen smell, good hearing, rooting behavior, good runners and jumpers, live in herds, large canine teeth, simple stomach, omnivorous

Order Cetacea(Whales, dolphins, porpoises)

A spindle-like, fusiform body shape.

Vestigial hind limbs and front limb flippers that are paddle-like and lack claws or fingers.

A hairless body as an adult with no sweat glands and a thick layer of subcutaneous fat.

One or two external nostrils located at the top of the head, called blowholes

aquatic

Family Delphinidae(dolphins)

a noticeable beak, conical teeth, and a large falcate dorsal fin set near the middle of the back

Family Phocoenidae(porpoises)

No beak.

Triangular dorsal fin.

Spade-shaped teeth.

3 - 8 feet (0.9 - 2.4 m)

Use echolocation , grab then suck down their food.

65 - 250 pounds (29 - 113 kg)

Thick bodies.

Between 60 - 120 teeth.

Family Physeteridae(Sperm whale)

Some neck vertebrae fused; head disproportionately large, with bulbous, squared snout; mouth narrow and ventral; lower teeth total 40-52 in Physeter, 16-32 in Kogia; upper teeth vestigial, smaller, varying in number.

Family Balaenopteridae(rorquals)

The body is streamlined, the snout pointed, the throat and chest grooved. The dorsal fin is hooked and set far back on the body. The tail is slightly notched at the mid-line, and scalloped along the posterior edge. Baleen(filter feeders)

Family Elephantidae(Elphantidae)

ong trunk (elongated upper lip and nose), columnar legs, and huge head with temporal glands and wide, flat ears

Order Sirenia(Seacows)

two front limbs in the form of flippers but no hind limbs; even the pelvis is vestigial, and there are no skeletal remnants of leg or foot bones at all. Sirenian bodies are basically round in cross-section and taper toward the tail, which is flattened horizontally and provides propulsion

Order Dermoptera(Colugo)

Arboreal, Patagium

Order Scandentia(Tree shrews)

diurnal, insects and fruit diet

Family Tupaiidae(ordinary tree shrews)

large eyes, conspicuous ears, and, like insectivores, a long muzzle

Ptilocercidae(pentailed tree shrew)

ong, slender bodies, large eyes, and conspicuous ears

Order Primates(monkey, apes, and humans)

Large brains (in relation to body size)

Vision more important than sense of smell.

Hands adapted for grasping.

Long life spans and slow growth.

Few offspring, usually one at a time.

Complex social groups.

Family Hylobatidae(Gibbons)

Slender, long fore limbs, short hind limbs, no tails, long-term pair bonds, frugivores

Family Ceropithecidae(Old world monkeys)

omnivorous, have cheek pouches, and simple stomachs

Genus Macaca(Macaques)

Most widespread genus, bare faces and bottoms, frugivores, may eat small invertebrates and vertebrates, social matriarchal groups, natural host for Herpes B virus

Genus Trachypithecus(luntungs and langurs)

Slim build, long tail. diurnal, live in harem groups of 5-20, newborns golden yellow, herbivores, multi-chambered stomach

Genus Presbytis(Surils, langurs, leaf monkeys)

Their fur at the top is brown, grey, black, or orange, and at the lower surface whitish or greyish, sometimes also orange, with some species having fur designs at the head or at the hips

Genus Nycticebus(Slow loris)

Small and stocky, Forward facing eyes, Vestigial tail. Nocturnal. Arboreal, Toxic bite

Lagomorpha Characteristics(rabbits, hares, pikas)

Nocturnal, herbivores

Family Viverridae(civets and genets)

small heads with short, pointed or semipointed, erect ears and a relatively long, pointed muzzle. Their eyes are of medium size. Most species have stripes, spots, or bands on their bodies, and their tails are often ringed with contrasting colors. Their claws can be retracted.

Family Herpestidae(Mongooses)

shorter broader skulls. long bodies, short legs, scent glands, snake a-neurotoxin resistent.

Family Manidae(Pangolins)

Protective scales on dorsum, lateral body, both sides of tail. Axillary Mammae, Prehensile tail, nocturnal, curl into ball, specialized diet of ants and termites, sticky tongue, strong claws

Order Perissodactyla

odd-toed ungulates

Priondontidae(Asiatic linsangs)

long, slender body, short limbs, elongated neck and head, and long tail