Paleozoic Life History - VERTEBRATES

Question 1

What did they discover in 1992 that forced paleontologists to rethink how and when Animals emerged onto land?

Answer 1

Fossilized Tetrapod Footprints

Question 2

Who discovered the fossilized tetrapod footprints?

Answer 2

Iwan Stössel

Question 3

Where was these footprints discovered?

Answer 3

Valentia Island, Ireland

Question 4

During the 1990s, only a few Devonian tetrapods were known, and the evolutionary transition from water to land involved the well-known phylogeny of ____________ (crossopterygian lobe-finned fish) to _______________ (amphibian).

Answer 4

Eusthenopteron - Icthyostega

Question 5

This is an animal that has, at least during part of its life cycle, a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, and gill slits.

Answer 5

Chordate

Question 6

What are the most primitive vertebrates?

Answer 6

Fishes

Question 7

When did fishes first appear?

Answer 7

Silurian

Question 8

When did fishes diversify?

Answer 8

Devonian

Question 9

Devonian is also known as?

Answer 9

Age of Fishes

Question 10

This is the oldest and most primitive animal of the class Agnatha, whose name means “bony skin”.

They are armored, jawless fish.

Answer 10

Ostracoderms

Question 11

Where did Ostracoderms mostly live?

Answer 11

Seafloor

Question 12

What was the first jawed fish that are found in Lower Silurian rocks?

Answer 12

Acanthodians

Question 13

They are a group of small, enigmatic fish characterized by large spines, paired fins, and scales covering much of the body, jaws, teeth, and greatly reduced body armor.

Answer 13

Acanthodians

Question 14

This is a another jawed fish, whose name means “plate-skinned” and evolved during the Silurian.

Answer 14

Placoderms

Question 15

They are heavily armored, jawed fish that lived in both freshwater and the ocean.

Answer 15

Placoderms

Question 16

A class of cartilaginous fish represented today by sharks, rays, and skates.

Answer 16

Chrondichthyes

Question 17

A primitive shark that was abundant in Late Devonian

Answer 17

cladoselache

Question 18

Along with cartilaginous fish, a class of bony fish also first evolved during the Devonian.

Answer 18

Osteichthyes

Question 19

TWO GROUPS OF BONY FISH:

The common ray-finned fish

Answer 19

Actinopterygii

Question 20

TWO GROUPS OF BONY FISH:

Less familiar lobe-finned fish

Answer 20

Sarcopterygii

Question 21

TWO GROUPS OF BONY FISH:

A group of fish, which include most of the familiar fish such as trout, bass, perch, salmon, and tuna, rapidly diversified to dominate the Mesozoic and Cenozoic seas.

Answer 21

Ray-finned fish

Question 22

TWO GROUPS OF BONY FISH:

characterized by muscular fins. The fins do not have radiating bones but rather have articulating bones with the fin attached to the body by a fleshy shaft. Such an arrangement allows for a powerful stroke of the fin, making the fish an effective swimmer

Answer 22

Lobe-finned fish

Question 23

Three orders of lobe-finned fish:

Answer 23

1. Coelacanths
2. Lungfish
3. Crossopterygians

Question 24

A marine lobe-finned fish that evolved during the Middle Devonian and were thought to have gone extinct at the end of the Cretaceous

Answer 24

Coelacanths

Question 25

When did a fisherman catch a Coelacanth, proving it's not extinct yet?

Answer 25

1938

Question 26

These are fish that were fairly abundant during the Devonian, but today only three freshwater genera exist.

Answer 26

Lungfish

Question 27

An important group of lobe-finned fish, because it is probably from them that amphibians evolved.

Answer 27

Crossopterygians

Question 28

The ancestral group of crossopterygians, reaching lengths over 2m and were dominant during the Late Paleozoic

Answer 28

Rhipidistians

Question 29

A good example of a rhipidistian crossopterygian and the classic example of the transitional form between fish and amphibians

Answer 29

Eusthenopteron

Question 30

A cold-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that comprises the frogs, toads, newts, and salamanders.

Answer 30

Amphibians

Question 31

The genus of the oldest known amphibian fossils found in the Upper Devonian Old Red Sandstone of eastern Greenland

Answer 31

Ichthyostega

Question 32

An animal that had a backbone and limbs that could be used for walking, and lungs that could extract oxygen

Answer 32

Crossopterygians

Question 33

An animal that had streamlined bodies, long tails, and fins along their backs, in addition to four legs, a strong backbone, a rib cage, and pelvic and pectoral girdles, all of which were structural adaptations for walking on land

Answer 33

Ichthyostega

Question 34

A 375-million years old "fishapod" discovered in 2006 on Ellesmere Island, Canada that was hailed as an intermediary between the lobe-finned fish like Panderichthys and the earliest tetrapod, Acanthostega.

Answer 34

Tiktaalik Roseae

Question 35

The evolution of ______________ _____ allowed vertebrates to colonize all parts of the land, because they no longer had to return to the water as part of their reproductive cycle.

Answer 35

Amniote Egg

Question 36

The oldest known reptile that served as a basis for determining the differences between amphibians and reptiles.

Answer 36

Westlothiana

Question 37

Early reptile fossil from the Lower Pennsylvanian Joggins Formation in Nova Scotia, Canada

Answer 37

Hylonomus

Question 38

A group of the earliest reptiles from Scotland and Canada that were agile and fed largely on grubs and insects

Answer 38

Protorothyrids

Question 39

Finback reptiles that evolved from the protorothyrids during the Pennsylvanian and were the dominant reptile group by the Early Permian

Answer 39

Pelycosaurs

Question 40

Mammal-like reptiles that evolved from the carnivorous pelycosaur that rapidly diversified into herbivorous and carnivorous lineages.

Answer 40

Therapsids