Flashcards in Mammals Deck (26):
0
What is a fossorial mammal?
A burrowing animal
1
What is a cursorial mammal
A running animal
2
How many species of mammal are there?
4800, mammals are the LEAST diverse clade
3
What is prototheria?
The monotremes
4
What is metatheria?
The marsupials
5
What is eutheria?
The placental mammals
6
What are the 5 unique mammalian characteristics?
1. Hair for endothermy
2. Lactation
3. 3 middle ear bones
4. Significantly enlarged brain
5. Diphyodonty (2 sets of teeth)
7
What is theria?
A clade containing metatheria and eutheria
8
Which group is the only group to have nipples?
Theria (the marsupials and placentals)
9
What do monotremes have instead of nipples?
Mammary hairs
10
What is the mammalian stapes homologous to in reptiles?
The columella in the middle ear
11
What is the mammalian incus homologous to in reptiles?
The quadrate
12
What is the mammalian malleus homologous to in reptiles?
The articular
13
How many species of prototherian are there and what are they?
5:
1 platypus and 4 echidna
14
The prototherians have a single posterior opening, what is it called?
The cloaca
15
What can platypuses sense with their snouts?
Electromagnetic signals
16
How many eggs do prototherians usually lay?
1-3
17
What are the eggs of prototherians like?
Leathery eggs
18
How many species of metatherian are there?
270
19
Why are metatherians born at such a low birth weight?
The young are born as foetuses with overdeveloped forelimbs to crawl to the pouch. There they latch onto a nipple and develop outside the body.
20
What are the didelphimorphia?
The American opossums
21
What are the paucituberculata?
American shrews
22
What are the microbiotheria?
South American monito del monte
23
What are the dasyuromorphia?
Carnivorous Australian marsupials
24
What are the peramelamorphia?
Australian bandicoots and bilbies
25