V. Zoo 117

ZOO 117: INTRODUCTORY
VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
TOPIC: CONCEPTS OF EVOLUTION
BY
PROF. ADIAHA A. A. UGWUMBA

 THE CONCEPT OF EVOLUTION
 Definition of Evolution
• In biology, evolution is a complex
process by which characteristic features
of living organisms change with time as
inherited features called traits are
passed on from one generation to
another
 Modern evolutionary biology began in
the middle 19th century with the
growing interest and studies of:
• fossils and
• the diversity of living organisms
These convinced scientists on the

evolution of organisms that :
 species changed with time

 Brief History of Evolution
• Throughout history, philosophers,
religious leaders and scientists have tried
to explain the origin of life on earth
• In the early times, the most common

view was that God created every
organism on earth more or less as it is
now
– many people still hold this view

today, even among scientists
 THEORIES OF EVOLUTION
1. Early Theories of Evolution: That all

life on earth evolved from simple
organisms
 Features of early times:

• Limited scientific knowledge
• Too many unanswered questions
• So the belief was that life on earth

as we see it was created by God
2. Modern Theory of Evolution:
 This originated with the Theory of
Evolution of life as a process of
Natural Selection
• This was proposed by a British

Naturalist – Charles Darwin in the
middle 19th Century (1859) who is
known as the Father of Evolution
 In 1859, Darwin published his findings
in a book titled:
“On the origin of species by natural

selection”
 In summary:
• Nature selects organisms that are
fit and rejects those that are unfit

 Darwin’s book was sensational
• the first 1,500 copies
produced were sold in one day
 This book was highly criticized at
the time because:
• Darwin did not have evidence to

support his theory
e.g. he could not explain the

mechanisms that caused
organisms to change
 Another British Naturalist Alfred Russell
Wallace working independently also
had the same idea of evolution by
natural selection
 Both presented the same theory before

the Linnaean Society of London (in 1858),
a year before Darwin published his book
 So Alfred Rusell Wallace shares the title

of Father of Evolution with Charles
Darwin
 Like Darwin, Wallace also had no
evidence to prove the theory of evolution
by natural selection
 Though Darwin/Wallace’s theory
of evolution lacked evidence,
– it paved way for the scientists

who later provided the evidence
of evolution by natural selection

 Later in the 19th and mid 20th century,
several scientific advances revealed
that :
• Genes are the hereditary

materials
• So genes are the heritable

traits transferred from
generation to generation
 Gregor Mendel, an Australian Monk was
the first scientist to study inheritance
on a firm scientific basis and so he is
known as the Father of Inheritance.
His work in 1865 revealed that:

• Genes are the hereditary materials
transferred from generation to
generation
• His works also revealed how genes
are transferred
• He found that traits are inherited in a
predictable manner
Therefore the modern
theory of evolution is a
combination of Darwinian
natural selection and
Mendelian inheritance
 Mechanisms of Evolution
• 3 processes are involved namely:
1. Natural Selection: This occurs because:
 Heritable variation exists within
populations of organisms
 Organisms produce more offsprings
that can survive
 Offsprings produced vary in their
ability to survive and reproduce
Mechanisms of Evolution Contd.
2. Gene flow:
• This is the exchange of genes between
populations which are usually of the
same species and it happens during
reproduction
3. Genetic drift:
• This is the change in allele frequency
from one generation to the next
 Allele frequency is the proportion of
genes within the gene pool that are a
particular allele
 The number of organisms in a particular

population carrying a particular allele
determines the allele frequency
 Thus genetic drift is effective for
survival
New molecular biology techniques
compare the genetic structures of
different species which enable
scientists to determine evolutionary
relationships between species that
were previously undetectable
 Today, evolution is recognized as
the cornerstone of modern biology
uniting various scientific fields such
as:
 Cell biology
 Genetics
 Palaeontology
 Biochemistry
 Ecology
 Physiology
 Evolution also units various fields such as:
 Psychology
 Medicine (for care of diseases and
understanding vulnerable
diseases)
 Philosophy
 Geology (biostratigraphic methods
used to locate mineral
deposits including oil and
natural gas, coal
 Statistics
 Computer Science (evolutionary
algorithms)
 How do scientists study evolution?
• Through:
 Fossils i.e. Palaeontology
 Distribution of species
 Anatomical similarities
 Molecular similarities
 Direct observation
(for organisms with short life-
span)
 Tracing origin of life
 Evolutionary Patterns of Descent
• Evolving populations tend to adhere to a
general pattern of descent
• Environmental factors often determine
the pattern followed
1. Divergent Evolution:
• This involves divergence or separation
of two segments of a population
- each group follows an independent
and gradual process of evolutionary
change and eventually looks different
from each other and their ancestors
 Evolutionary Patterns of Descent Cont.
2. Adaptive Radiation:
• This happens when divergence occurs
simultaneously among a number of
populations of a single species
• This is usually common when a species

occupies a new habitat where it has little
or no competition
• Such specializations to adapt to their

various micro-habitats eventually result in
genetically distinct similar looking species
3. Convergent Evolution:
• This occurs when distantly related species
occupying similar ecological niches evolve in
ways that make them appear more closely
related
e.g. - marsupial mammals in Australia
and placental counterparts in
other continents strongly
resemble each other
- marsupial moles of Australia look
very much like placental moles
found in other continents, yet
these animals evolved
independently of one another
4. Co-evolution:
• This occurs when two or more organisms

in an ecosystem fall into evolutionary step
with one another, each adapting to
changes in the other in a cycle of
selection and response
e.g. - predator-prey relationships
- flowers and their pollinating agents

 Evolutionary Patterns of Descent
Cont.
5. Co-operative evolution:
• Evolution from mutual beneficial
attractions
e.g. - Plants and fungi that grow on
their roots
- the fungi aid the plants in
getting nutrients from the soil,
the plants provide the fungi
with sugars (i.e. food) from
photosynthesis
Evolutionary Lineages of Animals
Generally:
 it is agreed that life of animals started
with protozoans ie. protists
 there is strong evidence that flagellates
were the first group of animals e.g
flagellated cells is present in virtually all
groups of animals
 the view today is that metazoans i.e.
Kingdom Animalia (=Metazoa) have a
polyphyletic origin
 Evolutionary Lineages of Animals
• Phylogeny:
The evolutionary development and history of
a species or higher taxonomic grouping of
organisms
• Phylogenetic Tree or Evolutionary Tree:
This is a branching diagram that looks like a
tree showing the evolutionary relationships
among various species or group of
organisms
- based upon similarities and differences
in their physical or genetic features
 There are several schemes proposed, up to
7 or more on the origin of animals
 Scheme on Evolution of Animals
• It is believed that the earliest animals were
protists
Source: The MacGraw-Hill Companies

Scheme on Evolution of Vertebrates
• It is believed that the earliest vertebrates were
fishes - jawless fishes
Source: Pearson Bejamin Cummings 2008

VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
TOPIC: CLASSIFICATION OF
ORGANISMS
BY

 CLASSIFICATION OF ORGANISMS
• Biological classification is a system
of grouping organisms in an
organized manner, that reflects
similarities and differences among
and between them
• Biological classification has

scientific basis in its mode of
classification
 The area of biology that involves
classification of organisms is
called Taxonomy or Systematics
 Taxonomy involves description

of species
 Systematic involves assigning

species into evolutionary groups
In detail, Taxonomy or
Systematics involves the study
of the types and diversity of
organisms, their classification
and evolutionary relationships
A Swedish Naturalist, Carolus
Linnaeus is the Father of
Modern Taxonomy because his
works form the foundation of
modern taxonomy
Linnaeus classified organisms

according to the physical
characteristics they share
 Presently, revised classification of
organisms is not only based on:
• physical appearance of organisms
But also based on:

• the Darwinian principle of common
descent (ie common ancestor) and
• molecular systematics: which uses
DNA sequences of organisms to
classify them
 An assemblage of organisms that shares
a particular set of characteristics is
called a Taxon (plural is Taxa)
 Modern taxonomists use the 7 taxa of
classification introduced by Linnaeus in
1935 which are as follows:
– Kingdom
– Phylum (plural = Phyla)
– Class
– Order
– Family
– Genus (plural = Genera)
– Species (both singular & plural)
 Often there are sub groups within these
taxa
- e.g Sub Phylum, Sub Class, Sub Order, Sub
Family, Sub Genus and Sub Species
 Sometimes, there are Super Class, Super
Order
 Successive levels down from
Kingdom to Species, consist of
organisms that are increasingly
similar and more closely related
 In concept:
a Species is a population of
individuals that are capable of
interbreeding and producing
fertile offsprings
So species are reproductively
isolated
 Species that are very similar to each
other reflecting a close relationship
are grouped into a Genus
 Genera that are similar to each other

are grouped into a Family
 Members of a Phylum are believed to

have evolved from a common but not
too distant ancestor
 Each Phylum has a common design
or body plan with fundamental
differences that separate it from the
other Phyla
 The highest level of classification

commonly used is Kingdom
 Organisms are grouped into

Kingdoms based on
• their nutrition and
• level of organization
 In 1990, an American
molecular biologist called Carl
Woese introduced an eighth
taxon called Domain
• Domain was introduced
above the taxon Kingdom
(but this taxon is rarely
used)
Binomial Nomenclature
This is a system of giving each
organism 2 Latin names
These Latin names are the
scientific names of each organism
and they are either written in italics
or underlined
e.g. Homo sapiens for humans
Linnaeus formalized this system of
naming organisms
 General Classification of Organisms
• Originally, Aristotle, a Greek Philosopher
classified organisms into two groups:
- Plants (photosynthetic)
- Animals (non-photosynthetic,
free-living and motile)
 Linnaeus also maintained this classification

and assigned each to a Kingdom with Latin
names
• Kingdom: Plantae – plants, fungi
• Kingdom: Animalia – animals
 Single-celled organisms were known but not
classified
 Limitations of Classifying Organisms
only into 2 groups
• It does not take into consideration
whether an organism is:
 prokaryotic or eukaryotic
 unicellular or multicellular
• Some organisms like Euglena, exhibit both
plant and animal characteristics
- so it is difficult to place them in one
of these two Kingdoms and so such
organisms appeared in both
Kingdoms
 So classifying organisms into 2 groups was
unsatisfactory
 Commonly used Classification
The 5 Kingdom Classification
proposed by an American Biologist
called Robert H. Whittaker in 1957
is as follows:
1. Kingdom: Plantae
They are:
• multicellular plants
• photosynthetic
• have tissue differentiation
 Commonly used Classification
Contd.
2. Kingdom: Animalia
They are:
• multicellular animals
• non-photosynthetic
• exhibit holozoic nutrition
• have tissue differentiation
Contd.
3. Kingdom: Fungi
They are:
• multinucleate mycelial
plants
• non-photosynthetic
• exhibit absorptive nutrition
• have little or no tissue
differentiation
Contd.
4. Kingdom: Protista
They are :
• both plants and animals
• unicellular (i.e. acellular)
• photosynthetic or holozoic or
they have absorptive nutrition
or a combination of two types
 Commonly used Classification Contd.
5. Kingdom: Monera i.e. Bacteria and

They are: Cynobacteria
• unicellular
• absorptive nutrition
 Viruses are not included in this 5 Kingdom

classification above because:
– they are not cellular, being made of only
a strand of nuclei inside a protein coat
– they cannot grow or reproduce outside
their host cells and so they are obligate
parasites
 Kingdoms
Plantae
Animalia
Fungi
Protista
• are all Eukaryotes ie. organisms
that have membrane-bound
nucleus
 Kingdom Monera are Prokaryotes
ie. they lack well-defined nucleus
 Many taxonomists have accepted the
addition of the taxon, Domain and there are
3 Domains with Kingdoms under them as
follows:
Domain → Archaea Bacteria Eucarya

Kingdoms → Archaebacteria Eubacteria Protista
under the (ancient bacteria (bacteria Fungi
each that produce that grow Plantae
domain methane) in high Animalia
temperature)
 Classification of Animals
 Animals fall into 2 Kingdoms
• Kingdom Protista
- these are protozoans
(microscopic animals)
- They re acellular
• Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa

- these are comparatively
large animals
- they are multicellular
 Classification of Kingdom
Animalia
 Based on their symmetry,
metazoans are grouped into two:
• Radiata
– contains two Phyla
• Cnidaria and
• Ctenophora
• Bilateria
– contains all the other higher
metazoan Phyla
 Classification of Kingdom Animalia
 Based on pattern of cleavage of
the egg, metazoans are divided
into two groups
• Protostomia – all the Phyla
before Echinodermata
• Deuterostomia – all the Phyla
from Echinodermata and
above
- Echinodermata
- Hemichordata
- Chordata
 Classification of Kingdom Animalia
Contd.
 Based on the presence or absence of a
coelom i.e body cavity, metazoans can be
grouped into three:
• Acoelomates : those without a coelom
e.g. Platyhelminthes
• Pseudocoelomates: those without a
true coelom e.g. Nematoda
• Coelomates : those with a true coelom
e.g. Mollusca, Arthropoda to Chordata
VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
TOPIC: CHARACTERISTICS AND CLASSIFICATION

OF VERTEBRATES
BY

 Vertebrates are the only chordates with backbones
• they are one of the three sub-phyla of chordates
• the other two chordate sub-phyla are invertebrates, so
they lack backbones
 Phylum: Chordata
• Sub-phylum: Urochordata – sea squirts or tunicates
• Sub-phylum: Cephalochordata (= Acraniata)- lancelets
• Sub-phylum: Vertebrata (= Craniata) - vertebrates
 Tunicates and lancelets are the invertebrate chordates
 The only vertebrates in the entire Animal Kingdom belong

to just one Sub-phylum - Vertebrata
 SUB-PHYLUM: VERTEBRATA (CRANIATA)
• Common name: Vertebrates
 Features:
•CEPHALIZATION is a prominent features of vertebrates
because they all have a well-developed head
•They are metameric
•They all have endoskeleton
•They have a VERTEBRAL COLUMN, called VERTEBRAE
which supports the trunk
• This is a series of metamerically arranged internal
pieces of cartilaginous of bony skeleton which
either surrounds or replaces the notochord in the
adults.
 Features of Vertebrates Contd.
•Anterior part of the nerve cord is enlarged to form a BRAIN
which is a specialised complex structure
•Enclosing the brain is a brain case called CRANIUM OR SKULL
with the following functions:
• protection of the brain and orbits of the eyes
• for muscle attachment (of the scalp and face) responsible
for movement of head and facial expressions e.g frown
• helps to attach the brain and other head organs to the
rest of the body by connecting to the spinal cord
• it holds the teeth in place
• together with facial bones, it protects and supports the sense
organs
• Associated with the brain are special sense organs called
receptors e.g. eyes, ears, nose, tongue etc.
• The pharynx in most vertebrates is small and the gill
slits are few in number and often absent in adults
– gill slits are only used for respiration (not also
for feeding like in other chordates)
•They have CHAMBERED HEART for rapid blood
circulation
•Circulatory system is closed, so they have distinct
blood vessels
•There is the pigment, HAEMOGLOBIN in the red blood
corpuscles to carry large amount of oxygen
•Excretory organs are KIDNEYS, which do not only
remove wastes but also help to regulate the internal
environment
•Endostyle (an organ used to filter food) is present in
ammocoete larva of lampreys and it is transformed
into thyroid gland in all other vertebrates
•They usually have two pairs of limbs
•Sexes are mostly separate, fertilization may be
external or internal and development may be direct or
indirect through a larval stage
 CLASSIFICATION OF VERTEBRATES
 There are two super classes of vertebrates:
• Superclass: Agnatha (the jawless fishes
or jawless vertebrates)
• Superclass: Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates)
• There are six classes of jawed vertebrates
• Class Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fishes)
• Class Osteichthyes (bony fishes)
• Class Amphibia (amphibians)
• Class Reptilia (reptiles)
• Class Aves (birds)
• Class Mammalia (mammals)
 TOPIC: CHARACTERISTICS AND LIFE HISTORY
OF FISHES
• Jawless Fishes
• Cartilaginous Fishes
• Bony Fishes
 SUPERCLASS: AGNATHA
• Common name: Jawless fishes or Jawless vertebrates
e.g. Lamprey and Hagfish
 Features:
•They are the most primitive vertebrates
•Many agnathans are extinct
•They do not have jaws
•True teeth are absent
•Their body is elongated and eel-like in shape

•Features of Agnathans Contd.
•Living agnathans do not have scales; skin is slimy
•Adults are parasitic and marine while their larvae are free-
living filter feeders on plankton, algae and detritus; and
they live in freshwater. However, hagfishes are exclusively
marine
-The mouth of adult lamprey is circular and modified
into a sucker armed with horny teeth and hooks for
attachment to their host and also sucking of blood
-Hagfish has tentacles round the mouth to detect their

food and a tongue-like structure with hooks to capture
their prey and suck fluids from dead remains or dying
animals at the bottom of the sea
Features of Agnatha Contd.
•They do not have paired appendages
- they have fins which are not in pairs
•They have a single median nostril which leads to a
single median olfactory organ
•Their skeleton is cartilaginous
•The embryonic notochord persists in the adult
•Gills are not protected or supported by gill arch
•Seven or more paired gill pouches are present
•The heart has two chambers
 Features of Agnatha contd.
•Kidneys are adapted not only for excretion but also to
regulate salt balance in both fresh and marine waters
•Most of them are hermaphrodites
•Fertilization is external and development is indirect

through a larval stage called AMMOCOETE LARVA
•In lampreys, the larva is found in freshwater and it is a
free-living filter feeder on plankton, while the adults are
found in marine environment and they are parasitic on
blood of other fishes or other vertebrates or worms
•Most of their 7-year live span is spent as larva (5-6 years)

- adults die once they reproduce
 Classification of Agnatha
• There are two classes of living agnathans
• Class: Petromyzontia
(=Cephalaspidomorphi) – lampreys
• Family: Petromyzonidae
e.g. Petromyzon sp.
• Class: Myxinoidea (hagfish)
• Family: Myxinidae
e.g. Myxine sp.
• These two classes were formally grouped as one
class namely Cyclostomata (lampreys and
hagfishes) before they were separated
(seven pairs)
Petromyzon (lamprey-adult)
Mouth/Sucker of adult lamprey

socratic.org showing hooks for attachment
Dorsal fin
Caudal fin
(used to detect
Food)
Myxine (hagfish - adult)
Mouth of adult hagfish

showing tentacles and
newscientist.com tongue-like structure
 Life History of Lamprey – a representative agnathan
•Many lampreys are anadromous; the adults migrate up
rivers ie. freshwater to spawn
•During spawning, the lampreys stop eating, conserving all
their energy for reproduction
•A nest is dug by a pair of male and female lampreys at the
bottom in sand and gravel where eggs are laid, the males
release their sperms and fertilization is external
•After spawning, the adults die because their intestines
deteriorate and their bodies are attacked by fungi
•Eggs hatch into Ammocoete larva
 Life History of Lamprey Contd.
•The larva has no teeth, they are blind and they have little
resemblance to the adult
Ammocoete Larva of Lamprey – lateral view

 Life History of Lamprey Contd.
•The larvae drift downstream with the current till they
reach soft and fine sediment in silt beds, where they
burrow in silt, mud and detritus and become filter
feeders
•The larva lives for about five to six years, before they
undergo transformation (not eating during this period)
- they then migrate to the sea, develop into adults
and become parasitic
•The adults do not live long unlike the larvae
•The ammocoete larva has a low tolerance for high
water temperatures, this is why agnathans are not
distributed in the tropics
 SUPERCLASS: GNATHOSTOMATA
• Common name: Jawed vertebrates
 Features:
• They have jaws
• They have paired nostrils and paired olfactory organs
• Notochord is not complete, only traces always present
• They have paired limbs (legs or fins); though limbs may be

secondarily lost in some e.g. snakes
 Features of Gnathostomata Contd.
•Circulatory system is well developed:
- There is a ventral heart and usually with at
least three chambers
• Generally, blood is carried by arteries from the
heart to various parts of the body and returned
back to the heart by veins
• In most gnathostomes, lymph vessels are also
present that return fluid from tissues to the
heart
 Features of Gnathostomata Contd.
• Respiratory system is made of gills, lungs or the

skin
• Gill slits are generally present in the embryo

though some members also have them in their
adults
• Associated with gill slits are internal gills
• In higher gnathostomes, gills are replaced by lung,

though gills are present in the embryos
 CLASS: CHONDRICHTHYES
• Common name: Cartilaginous fishes e.g sharks, rays and
skates, sawfishes, chimaeras
 Features
• Their skeleton is made of cartilage
• Their caudal fin is heterocercal ie. asymmetrical
• They do not have operculum ie gill cover, so their

gill slits are exposed, being external
• They have odontoid or placoid scales
which are tiny and tooth-like or spine-like A placoid scale

 Classification of Class: Chondrichthyes
 There are two subclasses in this class
•SUBCLASS: ELASMOBRANCHII
•These are the sharks, rays, skates and sawfish (the
last three are called batoid fishes)
•They are the common cartilaginous fishes
•SUBCLASS: HOLOCEPHALI
•Chimaeras are the only living holocephalian
cartilaginous fishes and they are not common
• They are believed to be going into extinction
 SUBCLASS: ELASMOBRANCHII
• Common names: sharks and batoid fishes (rays, skates
and sawfishes)
 Features
•They are usually marine
•Their skeleton is made of cartilage and not bone
•Sharks generally have a streamlined (fish-like) body, while
the bodies of rays and skates are shaped like a bell; an
anterior broad disc and a posterior tail
•Sawfish, also called carpenter shark is a family of rays
characterized by streamlined body with a long, narrow,
flattened extension of the snout called ROSTRUM which is
lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged such that it
looks like a saw
 Features of Elasmobranchii Contd.
•Paired fins are pectoral and pelvic fins
•In sharks, the front margin of the pectoral fins are

free while in batoid fishes, pectoral fins are not
free but continuous with the head
•In sharks, gill slits are lateral because they lie at

the sides of the head; while in batoid fishes, the
gill slits are ventral (ie. underneath) the head
•They also have modified gill slits on the dorsal
surface called SPIRACLES, one behind each eye
- the spiracles are more pronounced (very
large) in rays and skates than in sharks
•They do not have operculum i.e. gill cover, so gill
slits are external
•Caudal fin is heterocercal (i.e. it is asymmetrical)
•They have placoid (odontoid) scales
•They have mucus glands in skin
• Since they do not have bone and so no bone

marrow, red blood cells are produced in the:
- spleen
-epigonal organ (special tissues
surrounding the gonads) and
-Leydig’s organ (located near the
oesophagus)
•The inner margin of each pelvic fin in the male
fish is grooved to form a CLASPER for the
transmission of sperm into the female
•Sexes are separate. Fertilization is internal
•Development is usually direct by live birth

(ovoviviparous or viviparous)
•Some are oviparous (egg laying)
 Example of Sharks
•Order: Carchariniformis (Ground sharks)
Family: Carcharinidae (Requin sharks)
e.g. Carcharhinus sp.
Scoliodon sp.
•Order: Squaliformes (Dogfish sharks)
Family: Squalidae
e.g. Squalus sp.
•Order: Sphyrniformes (Hammerhead sharks)

Family: Sphyrnidae
e.g. Sphyrna sp.
Scoliodon sp. (shark) - lateral view
Sphyrna sp. (Hammerhead Shark) – lateral view
Modified from: www.exploringnature.org

 Examples of Batoid Fishes
Superorder: Batoidea
• Order: Myliobatiformes (rays)
• Family: Dasyatidae (Whiptail stingrays)
e.g. Dasyatis sp.
• Order: Rajiformes (skates)
• Family: Rajidae
e.g. Raja sp.
• Order: Pristiformes (Sawfishes)
• Family: Pristidae (Largemouth sawfish)
e.g. Pristis sp.
Dasyatis sp. (Sting ray) – dorsal view
Snout
Raja sp. (a skate) – dorsal view

(Rostrum)
Pristis sp. (Sawfish) - dorsal view

Modified after Last and Stevens (1994)
VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
TOPIC: LIFE HISTORY OF ELASMOBRANCHII

CHARACTERISTICS AND CLASSIFICATION
OF OSTEICHTHYES
LIFE HISTORY OF OSTEICHTHYES
BY

 Life History of Shark – a representative Elasmobranch
•All sharks reproduce through internal fertilization
•The male shark does not have a penis but uses its
claspers to insert into the female shark and transfers
sperms to the eggs
•Fertilization is therefore internal
•Female sharks can store male sperm in order to fertilize

their eggs later, if the time isn’t right for reproduction
 Life History of Sharks Contd.
•There are 3 different ways that a baby shark can be born once
a female shark has a fertilized egg, depending on the species
1. Viviparity: is when a shark nourishes her growing
shark embryo internally through a placenta and
gives birth to a fully-functional young alive eg.
hammerhead sharks, requiem sharks
2. Ovoviviparity: in this case, there is no placenta linking
the embryo to the female shark
– the egg hatches while still inside the mother. Once
hatched, the embryo gains nutrients from reserved
food in the egg yolk, nutritious fluids from the
mother’s womb, and sometimes from consuming
other eggs in the uterus and are born as miniature
adults
– most sharks are ovoviviparous e.g whale shark
 Life History of Sharks Contd.
3. Oviparous: a protective egg case is released and attached to
rock or other hard surface at the bottom
– the developing embryo inside the egg case gains nutrients
from the yolk; once the nutrients from the yolk sac are used up,
the small shark emerges out of the case to fend for itself eg.
bamboo shark, carpet shark, horn shark, zebra shark
• Sharks do not care for their young, so they give birth to a small
number of highly developed young ones alive and the new-born
sharks care for themselves
• Sharks grow and mature slowly and reproduce only a small
number of young in their lifetimes
• Female sharks, isolated from males can undergo internal asexual
reproduction by parthenogenesis and produce young shark. The
egg is fertilized by an adjacent cell known as a polar body. Zebra
and hammerhead sharks are known to undergo parthenogenesis
 CLASS OSTEICHTHYES
• Common name: Bony fishes
 Features:
• They are found in all types of water bodies and they are
presently the most abundant fishes
• They have streamlined body shape – elongated body
- an adaptation for easy swimming
• Their skeleton is almost entirely made of bones
• Endoskeleton is reduced, so they are light - an adaptation for
buoyancy in water (ie. ability to float)
• They have different types of scales e.g. cycloid (smooth
edges), ctenoid (spinous posterior) and ganoid or rhomboid
(diamond- shape) scales
 Features of Osteichthyes Contd.
• Some bony fishes lack scales e.g. catfish
• Swim bladder is usually present
- it is filled with gas (or fat in some species)
- it is an adaptation for buoyancy
•Mouth has many teeth (some are toothless) eg.
pipefish, seahorse
•Gills are supported by bony gill arch
•Operculum covers the gills
•Skin has mucus glands
•Tail is homocercal (symmetrical)
•They are mostly oviparous
 Classification of Osteichthyes
 There are three subclasses
1. Subclass Dipnoi – lungfishes
-They are the group of fishes that led to amphibians
-They are sometimes grouped in the Subclass
Sarcopterygii
-They have both gills and lung for respiration.
- the lung is a modification of the swim bladder
-They are eel-like in shape
-Paired fins are modified into leg-like appendages
used for walking on mud
• Order: Lepidosireniformes
- Family: Protopteridae
Operculum
Protopterus sp. – African Lungfish

 Classification of Osteichthyes Contd.
2. Subclass: Sarcopterygii (= Crossopterygii)
• Common name: lobe-finned fishes
• Fins are fleshy and lobe-shaped
•They are primitive bony fishes and most of them are
extinct
•They have primitive scales called cosmoid scale which
evolved from placoid scales
 Example of Sarcopterygii
• There are only two living species, all in one order,

family and genus
• Order: Coelacanthiformes
(coelacanths)
• Family: Latimeriidae
e.g. Latimeria sp.
Latimeria sp. ( a coelacanth)
 Classification of Osteichthyes Contd.
3. Subclass: Actinopterygii
•Common name: Ray-finned fishes
•This is the subclass of modern bony fishes
•This class contains the dominant types of fishes and they

are the masters of the waters
•Their fins have rays
•Stream-line body is very pronounce
•Endoskeleton is highly reduced i.e an adaptation for

buoyancy
Examples of Ray-finned Fishes
Order: Perciformes (perch)

•Family: Cichlidae (largely tilapias)
e.g. Oreochromis sp.
Order: Siluriformes (includes catfishes)

•Family: Clariidae (mud catfishes)
e.g. Clarias sp.
Oreochromis sp. ( a tilapia)
Clarias sp. (mud catfish) - drawing
 Life History of Bony fishes – representative
Osteichthyes
 Reproduction is generally cyclic in bony fishes, being
regularly repeated
• The duration of cycles may be as short as four weeks or
as long as many years
• Pacific salmon, Oncorhynchus sp., reproduces only once
during its five-year life span, then dies soon after
• In many bony fishes,
• reproductive cycle is annual, breeding once a year,
so they are annual spawners e.g. mud catfish like
Clarias sp.
• while many others have multiple reproductive cycles
breeding more than once a year, so they are multiple
spawners e.g. in tilapias
 Life History of Bony Fishes Contd.
• Fishes are generally oviparous
• Eggs are laid and fertilization is external
• Development is indirect through larval stages which are
mostly planktonic and usually do not look like their adults
See Developing stages of the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis below:
Larval stages still carrying yolk Sac

 Life History of Bony Fishes Contd.
• Some fishes shed their eggs in water and the males
release sperm on the eggs as the females shed the
eggs; fertilization occur in the water column
• Fishes that do not care for their eggs and young, lay
large numbers of small eggs (millions) e.g. sardines
- this is an adaptation for survival since a lot of such
eggs are lost to predation, harsh environmental
conditions etc.
• Some other fishes that protect or guard their eggs and
young, lay few large eggs usually in a nest they build
-the females lay the eggs (a few thousand or
hundreds or less) in the nest and the males release
sperm on them e.g. the red belly tilapia, Coptodon
Life History of Bony fishes Contd.
• Some fishes are mouth brooders, they carry the eggs
after fertilization and even the larvae after hatching in
their mouth where they are incubated e.g. Nile tilapia
• Some fishes are ovoviviparous eg. Seahorse

- eggs are deposited by the female in a pouch in the
abdomen of the male where the male releases sperm to
fertilize the eggs and they are incubated in the pouch
- the embryos develop within the pouch from nutrients in
the yolk sacs until the male gives birth to tiny sea
horses
 Life History of Bony fishes Contd.
• Some bony fishes are viviparous eg. Surf perches
• The females store sperms in the body until their

ova are mature
• Fertilization is internal and the eggs are incubated

inside the females and the developing embryo is
nourished by connections to the mother
- the embryo hatch inside the female’s body; the
young fish is born alive
Class Amphibia
Zoo 117: INTRODUCTORY VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Vertebrate (Craniata)
Examples: Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals
The clade Craniata (Vertebrate and hagfish) includes animals that have a cranium: a bony, cartilaginous, or
fibrous structure that surrounds the brain, jaw, and facial bones.
Learning Objectives
• Identify characteristics of amphibians

• Describe the evolutionary history of amphibians
• Distinguish between the characteristics of Urodela, Anura, and Apoda
MEET: THE AMPHIBIANS
Central Theme
• Class Amphibia marks the vertebrate transition from aquatic
environment onto land.
Read more at: https://www.ducksters.com/animals/amphibians.php
This text is Copyright © Ducksters. Do not use without permission.
Overview
•Amphibia means “both life.”
• Most amphibians spend parts of their life in aquatic environments and part in the
terrestrial.
• Due to their life cycle and physiology, many amphibians are “tied” to water in
order to survive and reproduce.
• (Shell-less eggs, thin, moist skin, and gilled larvae prevent most from ever being
fully terrestrial)
•Evolved from lobe-finned fishes (Sarcopterygii) ~370 million years ago

•Moist, thin skin
•Sense organs for detecting sounds and scents (life on land)
•Amphibian means “both life”
Life in Water VS Life on Land
Fish are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. However, other vertebrate groups are adapted to life
on land.
These differences exist between water and land:

1. Air contains 20x’s more oxygen than water also with faster diffusion rate
but respiratory surfaces must be kept moist
2. Air is 800x’s less dense than water:

density of water = 1g/cm3
density of air = 0.001g/cm3
- water is harder to move through but does buoy up the body
- land animals need strong limbs and remodeled skeleton to get around
- appendages must be able to support body
3. Air fluctuates more in temperature
ocean temperatures are constant
land has harsh seasonal cycles of freezing and drying.
4. Land offers numerous new, unoccupied habitats and untapped food resources:
eg. terrestrial arthropods and plants.
5. virtually no predators on land yet

New Adaptations for Land Life
Some other adaptations that made their appearance after the transition
onto land:
(A) There was an increase in the number of blood vessels supplying the respiratory
organs.
(B) Development of a pumping mechanism to get air into and out of lungs.
(C) The ear became more important as a sense organ.
(D) Need lacrymal glands to keep eyes moist.
(E) Need new method of prey capture; cant use suction effectively.
(F) Moveable tongue now used to manipulate food in mouth

Questions???
66
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Gnathostomata in which:-
1. The body is typically without scales (Amphibia), covered with epidermal

scales (Reptilia), feathers (Aves) or hair (Mammalia).
2. The paired appendages are pentadactyl limbs.
3. The head is typically carried on a neck, and capable of independent

movement, except in the Amphibia.
4. Internal nostrils are present opening into the buccal cavity.
5. The snout region of the skull is weIl developed, and the posterior skull
table is reduced in size.
6. A lachrymal duct, associated with the eye socket, is present in terrestrial

forms but has been lost in aquatic tetrapods.
7. Respiration takes place mainly through lungs.

Superclass: Tetrapoda
Gnathostomata in which:-
8. The blood vascular system shows varying degrees of development of a

double circulation, which separates pulmonary and systemic blood.
9. Typically the visceral arches are reduced to a 'hyoid‘ bone. Internal gills
may be present in primitive tetrapods but not in higher forms.
10. Typically, there is a movable tongue in the floor of the mouth
11. An allantoic bladder is present in the adults of amphibians and in the

embryos of reptiles, birds and mammals
12. The members are essentially terrestrial, although some groups are
secondarily aquatic .
Tetrapod Classification
What are Amphibians?
Ectothermic tetrapods that have a biphasic life cycle consisting
of anamniotic eggs (often aquatic) and a terrestrial adult stage.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vetebrata
Class: Amphibia (amphibious: “double life”)
Subclass: Lissamphibia
Orders:
Anura (Frogs)
Caudata (Salamanders)
Gymnophiona (Ceacillians)
Amphibians Characteristics
1. Body Forms: three main basic body forms:
eg. salamanders: head-trunk-tail
eg. frogs: fused head-trunk, no tail
eg. caecilians: long slender snake-like body no limbs,
no post-anal tail
2. Skin:
most with thin moist, glandular skin without scales: doesn’t provide
much protection from abrasion, dehydration or predators
- thinness of skin and vascularization allows it to be
- used for respiration (cutaneous respiration) if kept moist
•Family Plethodontidae (lungless salamanders)
•Gills (larvae, few adult salamanders), 2 Lungs (adults)
Skin glands
The skin is often with many glands:
eg. mucous glands - make skin slippery; harder for predators to
get a hold
eg. poison glands - usually concentrated in areas behind eyes

when stressed poison gland secretes toxin
Skin glands
Mucous Glands (cutaneous respiration, antibiotic properties)
•Glanular Glands (toxic secretions - neurotoxins, alkaloids)
฀Paratoid Glands
The skin is often with many glands:
eg. mucous glands - make skin slippery; harder for
predators to
get a hold
eg. poison glands - usually concentrated in areas behind

eyes
when stressed poison gland secretes toxin
•Other glands (not in all species)

•Nuptial
•Wax
Skin Colouration
The skin is often brightly colored
contains chromatophores in dermis
many can adjust their color for camouflage
many toxic amphibians are brightly colored as warning
coloration
Less toxic species use color for camouflage

- darkening of skin color controlled by light sensitive pineal eye
which is connected to pineal gland
- triggers release of MSH from pituitary gland

MSH = Melanocyte Stimulating Hormones
3. Feeding and Digestion:
- Mostly predators (carnivores)
feed on insects, small mammals, birds, snakes, fish and
other frogs
- Filter feeder (zooplankton) from water
-Most have long flexible tongues for capturing prey: tongue of

frogs is connected to front of mouth free AND THE end
produces sticky secretions to adhere to prey
some amphibians have teeth to hold onto prey and
prevent its escape
- food swallowed whole, not chewed
4. Support and Movement:
- stronger skeleton, mostly of bone, supports body weight on land
but legs don’t support body very well in amphibians
limbs are low to the ground
body touches ground at rest

legs are not very flexible
still move in very ‘fish-like’ fashion
- skeleton provides rigid framework for muscle action; esp leg muscles
muscle mass shifted from trunk to legs
- strengthened rib cage and axial skeleton to support internal organs
abdominal organs hang down from axial skeleton which bears
most body weight
limbs with toes for easier land locomotion: as the first vertebrates with “legs &
feet” there was apparently some experimentation with the number of digits
early fossils are found with 5,6,7, or 8 toes
most modern amphibians have 4 toes on forelimbs and 5 toes on their hindlimbs
(almost all later tetrapods had five digits on all limbs)
made up of the same set of bones found in all land vertebrates
4. Support and Movement
Most muscles have lost the “segmentation” seen in fish
instead muscles are modified into “opposing pairs” to flex/extend or
abduct/adduct limbs, etc
Some of the trunk muscles still retain some of the “segmentation”
Swimming: aquatic forms have fish-like undulating swimming motion
Gliding frogs: eg. Polypedates spp (Africa and SE Asia) large webbed feet
can glide horizontally 30-40’ from a height of 40’
NECK
Another new structural innovation in land animals is the presence of a “neck”
the added flexibility with an additional set of muscles made the head much
more flexible
necks are also found in some ancient fish species but most fish lack a flexible
neck
5. Respiration
Adaptations necessary for shifting from extracting oxygen from water to extracting it from
air required major changes in both the respiratory and the circulatory systems
Amphibians can get oxygen in several ways:

a. lungs
b. through skin (cutaneous breathing)
c. mouth (buccal breathing)
d. Gills
a. Lungs
Most amphibians have lungs
the lungs are derived from the lungs of fish
very simple lungs; essentially hollow air sacs
-amphibian lungs are not very efficient [mammal lungs are >15 x’s more efficient]
Nostrils are now used for breathing as well as chemosensory

nostrils open directly into mouth cavity: cant eat and breath at the same time
5. Respiration
a. Lungs
Most amphibians have lungs
the lungs are derived from the lungs of fish
very simple lungs; essentially hollow air sacs
-amphibian lungs are not very efficient [mammal lungs are >15 x’s more efficient]
Nostrils are now used for breathing as well as chemosensory

nostrils open directly into mouth cavity: cant eat and breath at the same time
and no diaphragm (breathing muscle)

amphibians must gulp air to force it into lungs
in most amphibians the lungs are not adequate for getting the oxygen they need
most amphibians rely on additional structures

to supplement their lungs
5. Respiration
b. skin
Thinness of skin and blood vessels present allow it to be used as respiratory
surface.
Even when lungs are used for oxygen; most carbon dioxide is lost through the
skin
c. mouth
Can also use mouth lining for respiration
some salamanders have dispensed with lungs and gills and use
cutaneous or mouth respiration only
d. gills
Most amphibian larvae are aquatic and have gills for respiration
some aquatic amphibians retain gills as adults
6. Circulation
Air breathing also requires a restructuring of the circulatory system
The amphibian circulatory system is improved over that of fish:
- have 3 chambered heart; 2 atria, 1 ventricle

- two complete circuits of blood flow
pulmonary circuit & systemic circuit picks up O2 in lungs and returns
to heart
then sends oxygenated blood to rest of body
much more efficient; heart is a double pump but not completely

separated
there is some mixing of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood in ventricle
7. Nervous System and Senses
The vertebrate brain is made up of 4 distinct functional areas:
1. cerebrum - higher brain functions, integration
2. cerebellum - coordination of movement
3. diencephalon - coordination of nervous and endocrine systems
4. brain stem - automatic internal functions
Amphibian brain is about same size as fish relative to body size

- cerebrum (higher brain processing & sensory integration), esp optic
centers, are relatively; larger in amphibians than fish
- cerebellum (controls movement) is relatively smaller than fish
Senses:
a. lateral line
many aquatic species have retained the lateral line system
in air there is not sufficient density to activate receptors in lateral line
Senses of smell and hearing became more important than lateral line on land
Senses:
a. lateral line
many aquatic species have retained the lateral line system
in air there is not sufficient density to activate receptors in lateral line
Senses of smell and hearing became more important than lateral line on land
b. use touch, pressure and temp are sensed mainly by free nerve endings in skin
c. vision
vision is dominant sense in many amphibians
no longer a fixed open stare as in fish
eye is similar to ours with a few differences:
eye muscles to move eyeball in socket has lacrimal gland and eyelids to
protect from drying
Lower lid has a nictitating membrane: sweeps over eye when blinking
Accommodation (focus) by moving lens in and out
- not changing its shape as we do retina has rods & cones FOR color
vision
much visual processing occurs in the eye before signals reach the brain
Senses:
a. lateral line
c. Vision
d. hearing & sound
- our ear is divided into outer, middle and inner portions
- fish had only an inner ear
- amphibians have both a middle and inner ear
= eardrum is on outside of head, behind the eyes
- middle ear helps to amplify in air sound
sound waves in air are very weak
- a single ear bone (=columella (stapes)) (not 3 earbones as in us)
transmits sound vibrations from eardrum to inner ear
- most amphibians have a larynx with vocal cords
- frogs pass air back and forth over vocal cords between lungs and vocal sac
in floor of mouth
use sound to attract a mate
better developed in males than females
males do most of the calling
- some sound is also transmitted through forelimbs, muscles and soft tissues to
inner ear- esp low frequency “seismic” vibrations; may warn of large predators
Senses:
a. lateral line
c. Vision
d. hearing & sound
e. balance and equilibrium

- like fish, amphibians have inner ear that detects position and acceleration via
otolith organ and semicircular canals
8. Excretion & Salt/Water Balance
- as in fish nitrogen wastes are eliminated as ammonia or urea
- skin and kidneys are the main way salts and water are gained or lost
- most amphibians cannot conserve water by producing a concentrated urine
a few desert frogs can produce uric acid
requires much less water to eliminate
- most amphibians can store urine up to 1/3rd body wt in bladders and lymph
sacs beneath skin
- kidneys conserve salts by reabsorbing them from urine to compensate
- some amphibians can actually absorb water through their skin
- products from the digestive, excretory and reproductive systems drain into a
cloaca before being released to the outside
9. Defense/Protection
Amphibians have many enemies: snakes, birds, turtles, raccoons, humans
- many frogs and toads in tropics are aggressive and will fight predators
- some can give a painful bite
- frogs tend to stay very still when threatened

only when they think they have been detected do they jump in water or
grasses to get away
when held, they remain motionless to catch us off-guard, then jump
while voiding urine
- most frogs can also inflate their lungs making them difficult to swallow
- all amphibians have poison glands in their skin some toxins are lethal
eg. Poison Dart Frog
brightly colored (warning); one of the deadliest frogs
poison from a single frog could kill several humans
Choco indians of Central and South America catch them and
roast frogs over open fires then collect the highly toxic
mucus which exudes from the frog’s skin as they die.
10. Reproduction and Development
Mostly dioecious; rarely show sexual dimorphism
- mating is controlled by seasonal conditions
most amphibians have external fertilization
eg. in salamanders male deposits spermatophore on leaf or
stick and maneuvers female over it fertilization occurs as eggs
are released
Aquatic species lay eggs in clusters or stringy masses
Terrestrial species may deposit eggs in clusters, under logs or in moist soil
in some salamanders, the adults guard eggs
eg. frog breeding is like an orgie: most larger frogs are solitary except during
breeding season - males often take possession of a perch near water then males
call to females
each species has its own unique call
amplexus: male frog holds onto female female deposits eggs in water
anchored by sticky jelly
male deposits sperm over eggs: males will grab almost anything
Questions???
88
Evolution of amphibians
The early tetrapods that moved

onto land had access to new
nutrient sources and relatively
few predators. This led to the
widespread distribution of
tetrapods during the early
Carboniferous period:
sometimes called the “Age of
the Amphibians.”
EVOLUTION OF AMPHIBIANS II
• As tetrapods, most amphibians are characterized by four well-developed

limbs.
• Some species of salamanders and all caecilians are functionally limbless;
their limbs are vestigial.
• An important characteristic of extant amphibians is a moist, permeable skin
that is achieved via mucus glands that keep the skin moist; thus, exchange of
oxygen and carbon dioxide with the environment can take place through it
(cutaneous respiration).
• Additional characteristics of amphibians include pedicellate teeth (teeth in
which the root and crown are calcified, separated by a zone of noncalcified
tissue) and a papilla amphibiorum and papilla basilaris (structures of the
inner ear that are sensitive to frequencies below and above 10,00 hertz,
respectively).
Evolution of Amphibian
• The fossil record provides evidence of the first tetrapods: now-extinct
amphibian species dating to nearly 400 million years ago.
• Evolution of tetrapods from fishes represented a significant change in body
plan from one suited to organisms that respired and swam in water, to
organisms that breathed air and moved onto land.
• These changes occurred over a span of 50 million years during the Devonian
period. One of the earliest known tetrapods is from the genus Acanthostega.
Acanthostega was aquatic; fossils show that it had gills similar to fishes.
However, it also had four limbs, with the skeletal structure of limbs found in
present-day tetrapods, including amphibians. Therefore, it is thought that
Acanthostega lived in shallow waters and was an intermediate form between
lobe-finned fishes and early, fully terrestrial tetrapods. What preceded
Acanthostega?
EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF AMPHIBIANS
There are around 8,100 species of live amphibians.
They were among the earliest animals to diverge from ancestral fish-tetrapod stock during the
transition of animals from purely aquatic to terrestrial forms, first appearing roughly 340 million years
ago during the middle Mississippian Epoch.
The evolution of tetrapods from fishes signified a fundamental shift in body design from organisms that
breathed and swam in water to organisms that breathed air and migrated onto land over a 50-million-
year period during the Devonian period.
Microclimates arose as plants grew more abundant in the latter half of the Paleozoic, and ecosystems
began to shift. Vertebrates traveled from the water to the land as plants and ecosystems grew and
became more sophisticated. The presence of shoreline vegetation could have aided vertebrate
migration onto land.
According to one theory, aquatic vertebrates' fins were employed to manoeuvre through this flora,
paving the way for fin movement on land and the development of limbs. The late Paleozoic was a
period of vertebrate diversification, as amniotes evolved and split into two distinct lines that gave rise
to mammals on the one hand, and reptiles and birds on the other. Many marine vertebrates were
extinct near the end of the Devonian period, about 360 million years ago, and both marine and
EVOLUTION OF AMPHIBIANS
Classification of Amphibians
Modern Amphibians
• Amphibia comprises an estimated 6,770 extant species that inhabit

tropical and temperate regions around the world. Amphibians can be
divided into three clades: Urodela (“tailed-ones”), the salamanders;
Anura (“tail-less ones”), the frogs; and Apoda (“legless ones”), the
caecilians.
Two major group of extinct Amphibians
The two major groups of extinct amphibians are:
1. Labyrinthodontia
2. Lepospondyli,
Both are recognized from the structure of their vertebrae.
In the labyrinthodonts the centra of the vertebrae are ossified

from blocks or arches of cartilage, which is also the method of
formation in the frogs (Anura).
In contrast, the lepospondyls, have their central formed directly

from the deposition of bone around the notochord which is
often persistent.
In this case, therefore, the central are not preformed in cartilage
. This is the condition also in the newts and salamanders
(Urodela) and the caaecilians (Apoda ).
The two major groups of extinct amphibians are:
1. Labyrinthodontia
2. Lepospondyli,
None of the labyrinthodonts lasted beyond the Triassic, while the lepospondyls became extinct
nearly in the Permian, but amphibian lines evidently continued and are represented today by the
three distinctly different groups of modern Amphibia:
- the Urodela,
- Apoda and
- Anura.
The urodeles are superficially most like the ancestral amphibians
The apodans have lost their legs
The anurans have lost their tails.
All are something of an enigma so far as their origins are concerned, for their adults have retained
many larval characters and are quite unlike the labyrinthodonts and lepospondyls.
Their fossil history in the Mesozoic, after the early amphibians had disappeared, is fragmentary or
unknown.
It is a general feature of amphibians that they do not survive in salt water, salt
intolerance probably being related to their inability to concentrate urine.
As a result, amphibians have difficult y in crossing seas and appear to have been
unable to spread from one land mass to another where these were widely
separated.
Class Amphibians C
Key points: Urodela
• Adult salamanders usually have four limbs and a tail, moving by

lateral undulation in a fish-like manner while “walking” their arms
and legs forward and back.
• The majority of salamanders are lungless; respiration occurs through
the skin or through external gills; some terrestrial salamanders have
primitive lungs; a few species have both lungs and gills.
• Salamanders utilize internal fertilization after males transfer sperm to
the eggs via the spermatophore; there is a prolonged egg phase;
metamorphosis occurs before hatching.
• Caecilians are blind, limbless vertebrates that resemble earthworms
and are adapted for a soil-burrowing or an aquatic lifestyle.
Terminologies
• Key Terms
• lateral undulation: movement by bending the body from side to side
• spermatophore: a capsule or mass created by males, containing
sperm and transferred in entirety to the female during fertilization
• metamorphosis: a change in the form and often habits of an animal
after the embryonic stage during normal development
Order: Urodela
Examples: The newts and salamanders and their allies,
Characteristics
 Elongated body (length than width; being long and slender)
 A long tail and,
 Two pairs of limbs of about the same size (often).
In these respects they resemble the extinct labyrinthodonts and lepospondyls.
Diversification of reproduction and larval development is the key to the adaptive radiation of the modern
Amphibia.
- laying of relatively unprotected eggs in water or wet places was an essential feature and one which
separated them from the reptiles.
In common with other modern amphibians, the great majority of the urodeles still reproduce in this way.
However, one major group, the Salamandroidea, has internal fertilization, though only a few species
retain the developing embryo in the oviduct of the female.
Order: Urodela:
Among urodeles there are some that are totally aquatic and others highly terrestrial in the adult form.
Aquatic forms live in streams, lakes, marshes and even in subterranean waters, for example Proteus is found in
caves in Yugoslavia.
Terrestrial forms may live in the earth, under stones, or in trees, as in the plethodontid salamanders of tropical
South America which live and reproduce in plants of the pineapple family, Bromeliaceae.
Most are restricted to wet places, but one form, Ambystoma tigrinum, thrives in arid lands of the U.S.A. and
Mexico .
However, many urodeles are amphibious and live equally well on land or in water.
Where the evolutionary advantage lies in being aquatic, an amphibian can become so by bringing sexual maturity
forward into the aquatic larval state.
This is a phenomenon known as PAEDOGENESIS and is common among urodeles.

Order: Urodela
PAEDOGENESIS
Where the evolutionary advantage lies in being aquatic, an amphibian can become so by bringing sexual maturity
forward into the aquatic larval state. This is a phenomenon known as paedogenesis and is common among
urodeles.
The 'axolotl' is the larval stage of A. texanum and in this state can become sexually mature, so that some features
of adult structure never appear.
Other urodeles such as Proteus and Necturus have become permanently committed to this paedomorphic state
and the classification of the group is based to a large extent on the degree to which larval characteristics have
been retained in the adult.
The reverse condition, that is the abolition of the free-living aquatic larva to give a more fully terrestrial animal,
also occurs, particularly among plethodontid salamanders.
Order: Urodela
Distribution:
The distribution of the urodeles is of particular interest.
It is essentially Holarctic and is discontinuous and therefore relict.
Urodeles, in general, favour cool, wet places.
One species of Hynobius penetrates the Arctic Circle in Siberia and one tribe only, the
Bolitoglossini of the family Plethodontidae with species in South America, has invaded the
tropics.
No urodeles are known from the southern temperate regions.
Mexican axoloti
Web et al., (1981)
Order: Urodela – Unique Characteristics
Examples: The newts and salamanders and their allies,
The Urodela are Amphibia in which :-
1 . The tail is weIl developed in the adult. The postsacral vertebrae are not fused to
form a urostyle or coccyx.
2. The neck is more or less distinct .
3 . The hind limbs (when present) are similar in length to the forelimbs . The radius
and ulna are not fused; nor are the tibia and fibula.
The tarsal bones are not elongated. Pectoral and pelvic girdles are simple. The iliac
part of the pelvic girdle (when present) is not greatly elongated.
4. The eyes are relatively small, but functional, with or without eyelids which may be
movable.
5 . There is no tentacular organ .
6 . There is no tympanum.
Order: Urodela – Unique Characteristics
7. The frontal and parietal bones are not fused and the skull is not completely roofed
by bone.
8. The centra of the vertebrae are formed by the deposition of bone around the
notochord without cartilaginous precursors.
9 . The presacral vertebrae are numerous (more than 30 to as many a s 100), that is ,
the trunk is not shortened.
10. The larynx i s poorly developed and there is no voice.
11 . The left lung is smaller than the right, but is functional, except in the
Plethodontidae which are lungless.
12. Fertilization is external or internal; reproduction oviparous or ovoviviparous .

Classification of Urodela
Order: Apoda or Caecilians
The Apoda or Gymnophiona, commonly known as caecilians, are an obscure group of
tropical forest amphibians.
The majority burrow in soft damp earth, though one family, the Typhlonectidae, comprises riverine
forms.
Caecilians resemble large earthworms having a cylindrical body with numerous transverse rings and no
legs or tail.
Because of their habits they are seldom seen, but are possibly not uncommon locally
There are 150 species in 20 genera, widespread in the appropriate habitats in the tropics and no doubt
more will be discovered.
Among living amphibians the caecilians appear to have retained the greatest number of primitive
characteristics, but at the same time they are highly specialized in accordance with their burrowing
mode of life. Many caecilians have peculiar minute dermal scales resembling those of the Microsauria
from the Carboniferous period.
Unlike the Anura and Urodela, but in common with the early amphibians, the caecilians have a skull that
is almost completely roofed with bone. This dermal bony covering has often been held to be a primitive
Apodan specialization on the other hand, must be mentioned the unique tentacle situated
beneath the almost or completely functionless eye.
All adult caecilians have a pair of such tentacles which presumably are sensory and in some way
compensate for the loss of sight, a sense which would be useless in burrowing.
Reproduction, too, has been modified for life in damp soil or rivers.
All caecilians lay large yolky eggs or are ovoviviparous (Typhlonectes), but there is much
variation in life history.
In some, such as Ichthyophis, the eggs are laid on land and there is parental care by the female
until they hatch into aquatic larvae.
In others there is no larval stage and the juveniles emerge as replicas of the adult.
DISTRIBUTION
The pantropical distribution of the Apoda is of interest in comparison with the essentially Holarctic distribution
of urodeles.
Like them, the caecilians seem unable to cross salt water so that their occurrence in both the Old World and
the New suggests an origin prior to the break up of Pangaea, possibly not later than the Triassic.
The absence of caecilians from Madagascar is significant since at the time of its separation from the African
continent in the Cretaceous period, Madagascar was barely within the tropics.
If, as might be expected, the caecilians have always been tropical forest animals, their absence from
Madagascar can be explained in this way. Moreover this also adds support to the suggestion that the Apoda
and the Urodela (and probably the Anura as weIl) have entirely different ancestries from among the early
Amphibia.
Amphibia in which:-
1 . The tail is greatly reduced or absent in the adult.
2 . There is no distinct neck, the head being externally continuous with the trunk which has numerous transverse
rings.
3 . Limbs and girdles are absent and the body is worm-like.
4 . The eyes are reduced and are typically covered by pigmented skin or skull bones.
5 . There is a sensory tentacular organ from the side of the brain protruding through the orbit or through an aperture
in front of and below the eye.
6 . There is no tympanum.
.
Order Apoda
Amphibia in which:-
7 . The fronta land parietal bones are not fused and the skull is almost completely roofed
by bone.
8 . The central of the vertebrae are formed by the deposition of bone around the
notochord without cartilaginous precursors.
9 . The vertebrae are numerous and may be as many as 250.
10. There is no larynx and no voice.
11 . The left lung is typically rudimentary and the right extended into a cylindrical sac
12. Fertilization is internal, the cloaca of the male forming a protrusible copulatory organ
. There is no spermatheca. Reproduction oviparous, ovoviviparous or viviparous.
Web et al., (1981)

Family Caeciliidae
Apoda in which:-
1. Dermal scales may be present or absent.
2 . There maybe a short tail or none.
3 . The eye is distinct or concealed under the

skin or cranial bones. There is a socket.
4. There is no septomaxilla and the premaxilla

and nasal are fused .
5 . There are no prefrontal bones .
6 . Astapes is present.
7. They are oviparous or ovoviviparous. Web et al., (1981)
8 . The young have 3 pairs of branched gills .

There may or may not be a free - swimming larval stage .
9. The adults are terrestrial and burrowing.
10 . The family is widespread in New World and Old World tropics. \
There are 106 species in 19 genera .
Example s:- Caecilia , Oscaecilia, Gymnophis, Geotrypetes.
Order: ANURA -Frogs and Toads
The frogs and toads are by far the largest group of the living amphibians, world-wide
in their distribution, apart from polar and extreme desert areas and some isolated
islands, and occupy a great range of habitats.
Yet, the frog (or toad) is one of the most easily recognizable of all vertebrates.
They are all quite obviously of rather similar shape and size, whether they are
terrestrial or aquatic, burrowing or arboreal, even though they number some 2,500 or
more species.
Different species of frog are, of course, adapted to live in very different environments,
but their adaptations, with minor exceptions, involve physiology, behaviour and
particularly methods of reproduction rather than external features.
The Anura appear to have evolved a body form and size suited for survival in almost
any terrestrial environment where some fresh water is available for part of the year.
Order: ANURA -Frogs and Toads
Characteristics of ANURA
Order Anura
Amphibia in which:-
1. The tail is absent in the adult and the postsacral vertebrae are fused to form the
urostyle or coccyx.
2 . There is no distinct neck, the head being externally continuous with the trunk.
3. The hind limbs are considerably larger than the forelimbs and are used in jumping and
swimming. The radius and ulna are fused and so are the tibia and fibula. The tarsal
bones are elongated. The pectoral girdle is complex; the iliac part of the pelvic girdle
is greatly elongated and articulates with the sacral diapophyses.
4. The eyes are typically large and have movable eyelids,
5. There is no tentacular organ.
6. The tympanum is typically large and prominent.
7. The frontal and parietal bones are fused. The skull is not completely roofed by bone.
Characteristics of ANURA
8. True centra of the vertebrae (formed from arcualia) are reduced or absent.
They are replaced functionally by down growths of the neural arches resulting in the
chondrification and ossification of the notochordal (perichordal) sheath.
In the tadpole the centra are represented by blocks of cartilage.
9. There are 5-9 pre-sacral vertebrae, that is, the trunk is greatly shortened.
10. A larynx is usually present. The voice is loud and typically characteristic of the
different species.
11. Left and right lungs are present and similar in size.
12. Fertilization is typically external and reproduction oviparous.

Some species of Eleutherodactylus and Nectophrynoides are ovoviviparous and others
of the latter genus are viviparous .
Economic & Biological Significance of Amphibians
[Click Here for Sample Questions]
The economic and biological significance of amphibians is mentioned below:
•Amphibians are important members of the ecology as they play a vital role in many environmental food
webs.
•Amphibians can outnumber all other terrestrial vertebrates, including birds, mammals, and reptiles, in
temperate and tropical climates. Amphibians are significant invertebrate predators. Frogs, for example,
regulate insect populations and provide food for a variety of larger creatures.
•Amphibians are also important because a considerable drop in amphibian diversity can result in a significant
reduction in ecosystem health and sustainability, which can lead to a decline in human quality of life. Pest
management, water filtering, and medical research are all made possible by amphibians.
•Amphibians play a vital role in our surroundings and the ecosystems in which they dwell. They are sensitive
to pollution because their skins are naturally permeable, allowing them to absorb pollutants rapidly.
•A diversified group of amphibians indicates that the region is healthy and contributes to the survival of the
animals and plants that herps require for food and cover.
•Some amphibians, such as snakes that devour rats and other rodents, operate as predators to keep the
population of prey in check.
References/further readings
• Animals: Phylum Chordata-Amphibians; Ziser Lecture
Notes, 2015.11
• Guide to Living Amphibians Webb, J.E., Wallwork, J.

E. and Elgood, J. H. (1981)
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
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CC LICENSED CONTENT, SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTION
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at: http://cnx.org/content/m44688/latest/?collection=col11448/latest. License: CC BY: Attribution
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•metamorphosis. Provided by: Wiktionary. Located at: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/metamorphosis. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
INTRODUCTORY
VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
Module 4
CLASS REPTILIA
DEFINITION
Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrates, breath
by lungs and having the body covered by scales
or scutes.
A basioccipital bone is present in the skull

which articulates with the vertebral column by
a single condyle.
In 1895, herpetologists separated reptiles from

Amphibia as a different class.
Reptiles
 Probably best
remembered for what
they once were, rather
than what they are now
 Mesozoic era - age of
reptiles
 Dominant group for
>150 millions years
General characters:
1. They are inhabitants of terrestrial and
aquatic (both marine and freshwaters)
environments.
2. Their skin is dry, cornified and usually
covered by epidermal scales or scutes. There
are a few integumentary scent glands
secreting pheromones during breeding
seasons.
3. Single external nasal opening is present on
the snout. Ear drums are slightly depressed.
Class Reptilia
◦ Other adaptations for
land
 Impervious skin
 Keratin epidermal scales
 Horny tales
 Water conserving kidneys
 Enlarged lungs
General characters:
4. Two pairs of pentadactyle limbs are present.
The limbs end in clawed digits.
5. The cloacal opening is either transverse or

longitudinal.
6. A post-anal tail is present.
7. The heart is composed of two auricles and

a partially divided ventricle. There are right
and left systemic arches.
General characters:
8. The kidney is metanephric type.
9. Mullerian duct persists as oviduct in female

and Wolffian duct is retained as vas deference
in male. Males possess copulatory organs.
10. Twelve pairs of cranial nerves are present.
11. Vomero-nasal organ (Organ of Jacobson)

is well-developed.
General characters:
12. Single occipital condyle in the skull is
present for the attachment with atlas.
13. Mandible consists usually six pieces of

bones.
14. Vertebrae are procoelous. Sternum is
greatly developed with ribs.
15. Embryos are provided with extra-

embryonic membranes, like amnion, chorion
and allantois.
General characters:
16. Cleidoic eggs are large. The calcareous
shell serves for protection against desiccation
and external injury. The shell is porous for
gaseous exchange.
17. Fertilisation is internal.
18. These are ectothermic or heliothermic

(Gk. helios = sun) animals.
HALLMARK CHARACTERISTICS
FOR CLASSIFICATION
They classified reptiles especially on the basis of
skeletal characters.
The major characteristic feature is the fossa of
the temporal region, i.e., behind the orbit, of
the skull.
1. Anapsida — without any opening in the
temporal region.
2. Parapsida — The skull possesses an upper
opening in which the post-orbital and
squamosal meet below.
HALLMARK CHARACTERISTICS
FOR CLASSIFICATION
3. Diapsida — In this case there are two
openings on each side, separated by pos-
torbital and squamosal bones.
4. Synapsida — In this group a single opening is

present with postorbital and squamosal
meeting above.
Subclass — Anapsida:
General characters:
1. The roof of the skull is solid.
2. The skull is devoid of fossae behind the eyes.
Order — Chelonia (tortoise):
General characters:
1. Body is dorsoventrally flattened and more or less
elliptical.
2. Body is dorsally covered by a shield like carapace

and ventrally by a plate, plastron. The shell is
externally protected either with polygonal scutes
or leathery scales.
3. Neck, limbs and tails are retractile. Tail is very

short.
General characters:
4. Weak limbs are pentadactyle and in some
marine forms modified into paddles.
5. In adults, teeth are absent and the jaws are

covered by sharp horny plates.
6. The cloacal opening is longitudinal. The

male possesses a copulatory organ that
remains attached to the ventral wall of cloaca.
7. These are oviparous animals.

General characters:
8. In temperate regions, all chelonians hibernate
regularly.
9. In the skull, quadrate bone is immovably

articulated, i.e., monimostylic
10. Thoracic vertebrae and ribs are usually fused

with carapace.
11. Pectoral girdle consists of a scapula, a long pro-

coracoid, and a coracoid.
12. The pelvic girdle is composed of ilia, ischia, and

pubis.
EXAMPLES
Subclass — Lepidosauria ( Lepis
-scale; Squaros - Lizard):
General Characters:
1. The skull of the members of this group has
two temporal vacuities; i.e., diapsid skull.
2. Lizard-like reptiles with scaled skin.

This subclass includes three orders —
Eusuchia, Rhynchocephalia and Squamata.
Among these three orders, Eusuchia is
extinct.
Order — Rhynchocephalia
(Rhynchos - a beak/snout; Kephale -
a head):
General characters:
1. The skin is dorsally dull olive green and ventrally
whitish in colour. Dorsal side is covered by small
granular scales and on the ventral side the scales are
transformed into transverse square plates of larger
size.
2. Tail is bilaterally compressed and crested with

power of regeneration.
a head):
3. At the dorsal side a median row of erective spines
(frill) extends from the top of the head to the tip of
the tail.
4. The eyes are large with vertical pupil.
5. The cloacal aperture is a transverse slit.
6. Males lack copulatory organ.
7. Skull is composed of paired premaxillae, nasals,

frontals, and parietals. The quadrate is immovable.
a head):
8. Vertebrae have amphicoelous centra with
persistent notochord. A so-called pro-atlas is
present.
9. Almost all the vertebrae possess chevron bone.
10. Abdominal ribs are present. The ribs are single

headed and bony.
11. The teeth are of acrodont type. Small triangular

teeth are present on the maxilla, palatine and
mandible.
a head):
12. Vomerine teeth are present in youngs but in
adults these are replaced by pads.
13. Brain is simple with a very well-developed

parietal organ (third eye).
14. The fertilised eggs take over a year to hatch.
Examples:
Sphenodon punctatus and S. guntheri.

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ZOO 117: INTRODUCTORY

TOPIC: CONCEPTS OF EVOLUTION

PROF. ADIAHA A. A. UGWUMBA

• the diversity of living organisms

These convinced scientists on the

 species changed with time

• In the early times, the most common

– many people still hold this view

1. Early Theories of Evolution: That all

 Features of early times:

• Too many unanswered questions

• So the belief was that life on earth

• This was proposed by a British

“On the origin of species by natural

fit and rejects those that are unfit

 This book was highly criticized at

the time because:

• Darwin did not have evidence to

e.g. he could not explain the

 Both presented the same theory before

 So Alfred Rusell Wallace shares the title

 Though Darwin/Wallace’s theory

of evolution lacked evidence,

– it paved way for the scientists

of evolution by natural selection

• Genes are the hereditary

• So genes are the heritable

His work in 1865 revealed that:

 The number of organisms in a particular

 Thus genetic drift is effective for

• This is usually common when a species

• Such specializations to adapt to their

• This occurs when two or more organisms

e.g. - predator-prey relationships

- flowers and their pollinating agents

Source: The MacGraw-Hill Companies

Source: Pearson Bejamin Cummings 2008

PROF. ADIAHA A. A. UGWUMBA

• Biological classification has

 Taxonomy involves description

 Systematic involves assigning

Linnaeus classified organisms

But also based on:

 Genera that are similar to each other

 Members of a Phylum are believed to

 The highest level of classification

 Organisms are grouped into

 Linnaeus also maintained this classification

5. Kingdom: Monera i.e. Bacteria and

 Viruses are not included in this 5 Kingdom

Domain → Archaea Bacteria Eucarya

• Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa

TOPIC: CHARACTERISTICS AND CLASSIFICATION

PROF. ADIAHA A. A. UGWUMBA

 Tunicates and lancelets are the invertebrate chordates

 The only vertebrates in the entire Animal Kingdom belong

•They are the most primitive vertebrates

•Many agnathans are extinct

•They do not have jaws

•True teeth are absent

•Their body is elongated and eel-like in shape

-Hagfish has tentacles round the mouth to detect their

•Most of them are hermaphrodites