Herpetology Exam 1 (Part 2)

Front 1

What's the difference between scutes and scales?

Back 1

scales - overlap

scutes - don't overlap

Front 2

What are osteoderms?

Back 2

plates of bone found under the skin of most reptiles

Front 3

What are the 2 kinds of keratin and where are they found (reptiles/amphibians?)?

Back 3

1) alpha-keratin = a-helix; in amphibians/mammals.

2) Beta-keratin = b-sheet, in reptiles

Front 4

Reptile skin is divided into dermis and epidermis. What are the 3 important layers of the epidermis from inside to outside?

Back 4

1) Stratum germinativum = bottom, mitotic layer.

2) mesos layer = contains lipids/waterproofs the reptiles.

3) stratum corneum = dead keratinized tissue that makes up the scales.

Front 5

How do turtles end up with "growth rings"?

Back 5

In some turtles, it doesn't shed the scute but adds new ones underneath, leading to visible growth rings.

Front 6

Reptiles have Scale Organs. What are these?

Back 6

Microscopic pits with mechanoreceptors/hair cells. look like pores on the skin (especially around face)

Front 7

What is Ecdysis?

Back 7

Describes how squamates (lizards/snakes) shed= they shed skin almost all at the same time and the new layer pushes off the old layer.

Front 8

Reptiles have Sclerical Ossicles. What are these?

Back 8

Bony plates that surround the eye (also in birds).

Front 9

Reptiles have rods and cones just like us. What's special about the cones in reptiles?

Back 9

Reptiles have lipid droplets on top of the cones that act as mini lens for each cone to selectively filter out certain wavelengths of light.

Front 10

What are 3 differences between the eyes of snakes and lizards?

Back 10

a) snakes don't have eyelids

b) snakes don't have ciliary muscles; they change the shape of the lens by squeezing the lens out of the iris.

c) snakes don't have sclerical ossicles.

Front 11

All snakes have a Spectacle. What is this?

Back 11

a transparent eyelid over the eyes that help focus light on the retina.

Front 12

Lots of distantly-related snakes (boas, pythons and pit vipers) have infrared-sending pit organs on the face. What nerve do these pits hook up with and what sense do they affect?

Back 12

Hook up to the Trigeminal nerve (CN5) and overlay on the vision.

Front 13

Tuataras belong to what genus?

Back 13

Sphenodon.

Front 14

Tuataras are the last of their kind and are known as a ____________ species.

Back 14

relict.

Front 15

What's the difference in cloaca between lizards and tuataras?

Back 15

Tuataras have a transverse cloaca.

Front 16

Squamate males have a unique sex organ called the ____________. They have a unique groove for delivering sperm called the ________ ___________.

Back 16

a) hemipenes.

b) sulcus spermaticus.

Front 17

What are the 2 kinds of squamate tooth arrangement?

(What kind of teeth do crocadylians have?)

Back 17

1) Acrodont = attached to the top of the jaw

2) pleurodont = attached to groove/lingual side on inside of jaw.

(3) Crocadylians have thecodont teeth --they're in sockets like ours)

Front 18

Some squamates reproduce by parthogenesis. What is this?

Back 18

They don't need a male to mate; they auto-fertilize eggs.

Front 19

a) What are the 3 different ways that sex-determination can happen in lizards AND turtles?

b) What is the only method of sex-determination found in snakes?

c) What is the only method of sex-determination found in crocadylians and tuataras?

Back 19

a) XY chromosome, ZY chromosomes, and temp-dependent sex determination.

b) ZW chromosomes

c) temperature-dependent determination

Front 20

Some lizards can lose their tails adaptively to escape predators in a process known as ______________.

Back 20

autotomy

Front 21

What are the 2 types of autotomy that lizards can perform?

Back 21

1) intravertebral = vertebrae close to tail have built-in breaking points. Muscles can consciously break tail. Tail grows back with cartilage rod.

2) Intervertebral = tail breaks between vertebrae and doesn't grow back.

Front 22

What kind of digits are the ancestral condition in tetrapods?

What commonly happens in squamates?

Back 22

Pentadactyly.

Being limbless/having reduced limbs has evoled 25 times in squamates.

Front 23

Some squamates produce venom. Where did this venom evolve from?

Back 23

Evolved from various proteins that do other things in other areas of the body.

Front 24

What family of lizards is the sister taxa to all other squamates?

What characterizes them?

Back 24

the blind skinks. (Dibamidae)

-vestigial eyes covered by scales

-males have small flaplike hindlimbs

Front 25

What are the 6 major orders of lizards?

Back 25

1) Gekkota

2) Scincomorpha

3) Lacertoidea

4) Anguimorpha

5) Acrodonta (within Iguania clade)

6) Pleurodonta (within Iguania clade)

Front 26

What main things characterize the clade Gekkota?

Back 26

-many species have toepads w/ lots of microscopic surface area.

-autotomic tails

-usually oviparous

Front 27

What are the 4 main families of lizards found in Gekkota?

Back 27

1) Pacific geckos

2) flap-footed lizards

3) Leaf-toed geckos

4) Spectacled geckos

Front 28

What 4 unique things about Pacific Geckos?

Back 28

1) only gecko in New Zealand

2) only group with viviparous species

3) Prehensile "sticky" tail with same structure as toe pads

4) can and will spray sticky fluid from tail.

Front 29

What is the unique thing about Flap-Footed lizards?

Back 29

1) Both sexes have tiny flap-footed hindlimbs near the cloaca.

Front 30

What is unique about Leaf-Tailed Geckos?

Back 30

They have leaf-like scales on the toes.

Front 31

What is unique about Spectacled Geckos?

Back 31

the main geckos; 1/10 of species here lay eggs in communal nests.

Front 32

What are the 3 main aspects of morphology common to the lizard clade Scincomorpha?

Back 32

1) compact, bullet-shaped head

2) smooth, shiny scales underlaid by osteoderms in multiple parts.

3) limb reduction is common

Front 33

What are the 3 main families found within the lizard clade Lacertoidea?

Back 33

1) whiptails

2) wall lizards

3) Legless lizards

Front 34

What characterizes the lizard family Whiptail lizards?

Back 34

Whiptail lizards

-diurnal

-oviparous

-some nest communally

Front 35

What characterizes the lizard family Wall Lizards?

Back 35

-well-developed limbs

-rock-dwelling

-ONLY reptile group that lives above the arctic circle.

Front 36

What is interesting about the frontal bone of legless lizards?

Back 36

It surrounds the entire brain

Front 37

What is interesting about the skin of legless lizards?

Back 37

It moves independently of the trunk

Front 38

What is interesting about the pectoral girdle and pelvic ilium of legless lizards?

Back 38

Pectoral girdle is absent in most legless lizards; however, all retain the pelvic ilium

Front 39

What is interesting about the lungs of legless lizards?

Back 39

The RIGHT lung is reduced, which is unusual, since most other squamates reduced lungs have reduced left lungs.

Front 40

Within the Legless Lizards, what are 2 interesting facts about the Mole-Limbed Worm Lizard family (Bipedidae)?

Back 40

1) They have powerful front legs used for burrowing (but not locomotion)

2) All 5 digits on their hands are actually thumbs.

Front 41

What is the clade Toxicofera known for? What does it include?

Back 41

It's the clade of squamates that includes all venomous lizards and snakes.

Front 42

What are the 2 main (venomous) families within Toxicofera/Order Anguimorpha?

Back 42

1) Helodermatidae (Gila Monsters)

2) Varanidae (Monitors and Goannas)

Front 43

Clade Iguania is split into the orders Acrodonta and Pleurodonta.
What are the 2 main families in the the order Acrodonta?

What are the 3 main families in Pleurodonta?

Back 43

Acrodonta:

1) Chameleons

2) Agamidae (dragons)

Pleurodonta:

1) Lava lizards

2) Iguanidae (iguanas)

3) Dactyloidae (anoles)

Front 44

Chameleons have zygodactylous feet. What does this mean?

Back 44

Their adjacent digits are fused together.

Front 45

What is 1 notable fact about the Lava Lizards family?

Back 45

Males practice resource-based polygyny (they defend some resource and attract females).

Front 46

What is one interesting fact about Iguanas?

Back 46

They have a partitioned colon for fermenting plant materials (since they're herbivores).

Front 47

Snakes have what kind of sex determination?

Back 47

genetic

Front 48

What kind of teeth do snakes have?

Back 48

pleurodont (attached to the lingual side of jaw)

Front 49

What are the 4 kinds of dentition in snakes?

Back 49

1) Aglyph = little variation in size/shape of teeth. Found in nonvenomous snakes.

2) Opisthoglyph = "rear-fanged"

3) Preteroglyph = 1 large pair of fangs on maxilla w/ a few small teeth behind it.

4) Solenoglyph = extremely reduced maxilla that houses 1 set of huge fangs.

Front 50

Snakes are split into 2 main orders: what are they?

Back 50

1) Scolecophidia (blindsnakes)

2) Alethinophidia (everyone else)

Front 51

What are 3 facts about blindsnakes?

Back 51

1) vestigial eyes

2) hindlimb remnants

3) specialized to eat ants and termites.

Front 52

Which clade within Alethinophidia contains the poisnonous snakes?

Back 52

Colubroidea

Front 53

What are the main families of snakes within Alethinophidia that are NOT in Colubroidea?

Back 53

1) Dwarf Boas

2) Shield-tailed snakes

3) Split-Jawed snakes

4)Boas

5) Pythons

Front 54

What's one interesting fact about the Dwarf Boas family?

Back 54

Can hemorrhage from eyes and mouth as a defense mechanism.

Front 55

What's interesting about the Split-Jaw snakes?

Back 55

Maxilla is jointed and divided into 2; no other snake or vertebrate has this.

Front 56

What are the 3 main differences between boas and pythons?

Back 56

1) Boas are viviparous, pythons are oviparous.

2) Pythons have their infrared sensors in pits, unlike boas.

3) Boas contain the heaviest living snake (green anaconda); pythons contain the longest living snake (reticulated python)

Front 57

What's one thing unique to pythons' metabolism?

Back 57

They can downregulate their metabolism when not feeding to the point of shrinking vital organs.

Front 58

What is the sister taxa to Colubroidea? What's interesting about them?

Back 58

File Snakes

-aquatic

-sublingual salt glands to excrete salt.

Front 59

What are the 3 main families in Colubroidea? Which has the rear-fanged snakes?

Back 59

1) Lamprophiidae (vipers)

2) Elapidae (cobras/sea snakes)

3) Colubridae -- rear-fanged

Front 60

What's the difference between true vipers and pit vipers?

Back 60

True vipers don't have pits

Front 61

What kind of viper (and is it true or a pit viper) has the longest fangs of any snake?

Back 61

The Gaboon viper

Front 62

What kind of dentition do crocadylians have?

Back 62

Thecodont (teeth are in sockets)

Front 63

Crocadylians have a Secondary Palate. What is this?

Back 63

Space between the bottom of the skull and the roof of the mouth that allows air to pass from the nose into the lungs without going through the mouth.

Front 64

What is the name of the flap that crocs use to cover their trachea?

Back 64

palatovalve

Front 65

What family of crocadylians are the only ones to be found in temparate environments that freeze?

Back 65

Alligators/caimans

Front 66

True or false: the pelvic and pectoral girdles in turtles are found inside the ribcage, unlike everyone else.

Back 66

TRUE

Front 67

What are the 2 major clades of turtles and what's the difference?

Back 67

1) Pleurodira = side-necked turtles

2) Cryptodira = pull neck straight back into shell.

Front 68

What is one example of a Pleurodira turtle?

Back 68

matamata

Front 69

What are the 6 main families in the Cryptodira clade of turtles?

Back 69

1) Softshell turtles

2) box turtles

3) tortoises

4) snapping turtles

5) sea turtles

6) Leatherback sea turtles