Welcome/Introduction to Vertebrate

• Rudyard Kipling, “For the strength of the wolf is the pack…”

What is this class about?

• Natural history = the description and understanding of the natural world

• Vertebrate:

  • kingdom Animalia

  • Phylum Chordata = animals with a notochord

  • Subphylum Carniata

  • Infraphylum Vertebrata

Phylum Chordata

Subphylum Urochordata

• Tunicates: sea squirts

• Lancelets

Subphylum Carniata

• Infraphylum Myxinomorphi = Hagfish

• Infraphylum Vertebrata = this class

Infraphylum Vertebrata

• Fish

• Amphibian

• Reptile

• Bird

• Mammal

What are the common characteristics of Vertebrates?

• have vertebral column/spinal chord

• skull

• skeleton made of bone or cartilage

• paired appendages with girdles (exception: snakes)

• pharyngeal gill slits in embryonic development

X-ray observations

• Frog x-ray

  • limbs go out to the side, not under

  • legs poised for jumping

  • long toes with webbed feet

  • eyes on top of head

• Fish x-ray

  • dorso-laterally compressed

  • gills

  • fins

  • eyes on side of head

  • operculum

  • darkness = swim bladder, which allows fish to be buoyant

• Mammal x-ray

  • different teeth like canines, incisors, etc… heterodine?

  • legs underneath the body

  • claws/nails

  • large braincase

  • fur/hair

• Snake x-ray

  • triangular head (venomous)

  • scales

• Bird x-ray

  • wings

  • hollow bones

  • talons/claws

  • eyes on side of head

  • legs under body

  • beak

  • feathers

  • fused vertebrae

• Turtle x-ray

  • shell on back

  • triangular head

  • eggs (oval-shaped objects in shell)

  • fused spine to shell

Semester at a glance

• Five taxa

  • fish

  • amphibians

  • reptiles

  • birds

  • mammals

• 15 weeks—3 weeks per taxa

• Lab with Hanne-dissections and identification