•School of Foundation Studies

BIO 004 (Introductory Zoology)

Class Reptilia

May 18, 2022

Reptiles
• First truly terrestrial
vertebrates
• ~7000 species
worldwide
• ~300 species in U.S. and
Canada
• Vertebrate animals
• Lungs
• Scaly skin
• Amniotic egg
• More efficient lungs and a better circulatory
system were developed for life away from
water

• Scaly skin provided protection against the

elements and desiccation

• The amniotic egg protected against

desiccation
Reptiles
• Mesozoic era - age of
reptiles.

• Dominant group for >150

millions years.
 Fenestration (openings in the skull)

• Anapsida- have no • Synapsida –

temporal opening Only one opening in
the skull.

• Diapsida- two
temporal openings
Reptiles
• 12 or so principal
groups of reptiles
evolved
• Only 4 groups remain
today
• They are all members of
the Subclass Diapsida.
 Classification

• Superorder Lepidosauria - Order Squamata

• Superorder Archaeosauria - Order Crocodilia
• Order Chelonia (Testudines)
• Order Rhynchocephalia
Order Squamata
• Snakes and lizards
• >5800 species
• Most successful group

• Two Suborders:
• Suborder Serpentes
• Suborder Lacertilia
 Suborder Lacertilia

• Family Gekonidae – gekos and lizards

• Family Varanidae- monitor lizards

• Family Iguanidae- Iguanas

• Family Scincidae- Skinks

• Family Chamelionidae - Chameleons

 Suborder Lacertilia
• Very diversified group
(3300 species)
• Terrestrial, burrowing,
aquatic, arboreal, aerial
• Many familiar groups:
•Geckos are mostly small, • Skinks have elongate
nocturnal, with adhesive bodies, reduced
toe pads (walk anywhere) limbs
•Iguanas are often bright-
coloured New World lizards

•Marine iguana - only marine

lizard in world
• Chameleons are • Lizards generally
Arboreal have moveable
eyelids (snake eyes
• Tongue flicked to
greater distance than covered with
body length permanent,
transparent cap)
• Prehensile tail
• They are generally
• Zygodactylous feet
insectivorous
 Suborder Lacertilia
They mate by pressing
cloacal regions together

•Males grip female’s neck,

shoulders

•Males have paired

copulatory organs -
hemipenis - to aid sperm
transfer
 Suborder Serpentes - Snakes
• Entirely limbless

• Lack pectoral, pelvic

girdles (except vestige
of latter in pythons,
boas)

• Short, wide vertebrae

for quick lateral
undulations

• Ribs improve rigidity

 Suborder Serpentes - Snakes
• Little modification for
various lifestyles:

• Elongate for arboreal

• Shorten for burrowing

• Broaden for swallowing

big prey

• Compress laterally for

swimming
 Snake Sense Organs
• Olfaction important,
but not in nostrils

• Jacobson’s organs
(vomeronasal organs)

• Tongue carries scent

particles to organ
 Snake Feeding
• Skull, jaws highly
specialized for feeding

• Eat prey several times

their own diameter

• Non-joined mandibles
(kinetic skull-movable
joints)

• Loose skull bones

 Snake Feeding
• Venom - toxic
concentrations in saliva

• Neurotoxic - blindness,
paralysis

• Haemolytic - ruptures
blood vessels, cells
 Snake Feeding
• Prey swallowed head
first

• Pulled in by teeth, jaws,

alternating side-to-side

• Contractions of neck
muscles force prey
down digestive tract
 Snake Locomotion
• 4 basic types:
1. Lateral undulation - S-shaped
path, pressure against
surface irregularities

2. Concertina movement -
movement upward or along
narrow passages
• Extend forward while bracing S-
shaped loops
 Snake Locomotion
• Rectilinear movement -
slow, straight-line
movement

• Sidewinding - sandy
surfaces, e.g. deserts
• Body lifted at 60 degrees
from the ground.
Order Crocodilia
• Crocodiles, alligators,
caiman

• ~25 species

• Have survived for 200

million years

• Today: concerns that

humans may drive them
to extinction
 Order Crocodilia

• Oviparous - lay eggs in • Crocodiles larger,

mass of vegetation more dangerous
than alligators
• Incubation temperature
determines sex of
alligator hatchlings • Prey drowned,
ripped into pieces by
• Low – females rapid rolling
• High - males
 Order Chelonia (Testudines)
• Turtles

• ~330 species

• Ancient group that

survived, remained
mostly unchanged from
early ancestors
 Order Chelonia (Testudines)

• Body enclosed in • Equipped with tough,

shell horny plates for
gripping, chewing
• Dorsal carapace food

• Have both middle &

• Ventral plastron inner ear, but sound
perception is poor
• Jaws lack teeth
Order Chelonia
• Turtles are oviparous

• Fertilization is
internal, and all
species bury eggs in
ground in nests

• 4 to >100 eggs

• Incubation 1-14 months

Order Rhynchocephalia/ Sphenodonta

• Snout head or tuatara

• Only 1 species

• From New Zealand -

sole surviving species of
ancestral stock
Order Rhynchocephalia/ Sphenodonta

• Tuatara - single species

in New Zealand

• Lizard-like, <66 cm

• Lives in burrows

• Slow-growing, long-
lived (77 years)
 Reptilian Characteristics
• Tough, dry scaly skin
• Protection against
desiccation, physical
injury

• Thin epidermis shed

periodically

• Much thicker dermis with

chromatophores
 Reptilian Characteristics
• Scales of keratin
(epidermal)

• Not homologous to
bony, dermal fish scales
 Reptilian Characteristics
• Crocodilian scales
remain throughout life

• Grow gradually to
replace wear
 Reptilian Characteristics
• In snakes and lizards,
new scales grow
beneath old

• Old scales shed with old

skin
 Reptilian Characteristics
• Turtles add new layers
of keratin under old
layers of the plate-like
scutes (modified scales)
 Shedding
• Snakes turn old skin
(scales, epidermis)
inside out when
shedding

• Lizards split skin and

leave it right side out,
or slough it off in pieces
Amniotic Egg
Chorioallantoic
membrane
Amniotic Egg
• Reptiles are able to lay
their eggs in sheltered
locations on land

• Young hatch as lung-

breathing juveniles, not
aquatic larvae
Amniotic Egg
• Amniotic egg widened
division between
amphibians and reptiles

• Probably greatly
contributed to decline
of amphibians and rise
of reptiles
Reptile Jaws
• Reptile jaws designed
for crushing prey

• Reptile jaw muscles

larger, longer, arranged
for better mechanical
advantage
Reptile Copulatory Organ

• Copulatory organ
permitting internal
fertilization

• Internal fertilization
required for a shelled
egg
Reptile Circulation
• More efficient circulatory
system, higher blood
pressure

• All reptiles except

crocodiles have at least
an incomplete separation
of the ventricles

• Flow patterns prevent

mixing
Reptile Circulation
• Crocodilians have two
completely separated
ventricles

• All reptiles have two

functionally separate
circulations
 Reptile Lungs
• Improved lungs

• Depend almost
exclusively on lungs for
gas exchange

• Supplemented by
pharyngeal membrane
respiration in some
aquatic turtles
 Reptile Lungs
• Lungs have larger
respiratory surface than
in amphibians

• Air sucked into lungs

rather then forced in by
mouth muscles

• Negative required
pressure
 Reptile Kidney
• Kidneys more advanced
(metanephric)

• Very efficient at
conserving water

• Excretes uric acid (rather

than urea, ammonia)

• A semisolid paste
 Better Body Support

• Limbs better design for walking on land

• More ventral, less lateral
• Many dinosaurs walked on only hindlimbs
 Nervous System

• Much more advanced - relatively larger cerebrum

• CNS connections more advanced - permit complex
behaviors not found in amphibians
 Nervous System

• Sense organs generally well-developed

• Hearing generally poorly developed in most
Ecological Importance