32. Vertebrates

If an animal has segments, bilateral symmetry, pharyngeal clefts, a post-anal tail, and deuterostomic development, it must be a member of the __________.

A __________ is a chordate but not a vertebrate.

Which of the following chordate characteristics contributes most to the formation of your ears?

Which of the following chordate characteristics contributes most to suspension-feeding devices in many invertebrate chordates?

Which of the following pairs is not a correct match?

Which of the following can be found in vertebrates but not in lancelets and tunicates?

A lamprey, a shark, a lizard, and a rabbit share all the following characteristics except __________.

Which of the following is among the earliest known vertebrates?

The operculum was an important adaptation for fish because it helps with __________.

Some sharks are viviparous, which means that __________.

A feature of bony fish not found in sharks is __________.

Which of the following organisms is most closely related to the ancestor of modern amphibians?

Which of the following sets of animals contains only gnathostomes?

The first vertebrates to live on land were __________.

Which of the following animals is an amphibian?

Habitat loss, the spread of a fungal disease, climate change, and pollution are causing severe population declines and extinction in __________.

Vertebrates and tunicates share a. jaws adapted for feeding. b. a high degree of cephalization. c. an endoskeleton that includes a skull. d. a notochord and a dorsal, hollow nerve cord.

True or false? Both echinoderms and vertebrates have endoskeletons. Explain.

Living vertebrates can be divided into two major clades. Select the appropriate pair. a. the chordates and the tetrapods b. the urochordates and the cephalochordates c. the cyclostomes and the gnathostomes d. the marsupials and the eutherians

What trait(s) characterize the vertebrates? a. vertebrae and a cranium b. jaws and a spinal cord c. bony endoskeleton d. notochord and post-anal tail

"In the chordate phylogenetic tree below, fill in the shared derived character that defines each clade. a. Notochord b. Vertebral column c. Jaws d. Bony skeleton e. Four limbs f. Amniotic egg g. Hairs"

What trait(s) characterize the vertebrates? a. vertebrae and a cranium b. jaws and a spinal cord c. bony endoskeleton d. notochord and post-anal tail

A lamprey, a shark, a lizard, and a rabbit share all the following characteristics except a. pharyngeal slits in the embryo or adult. b. vertebrae. c. hinged jaws. d. a dorsal, hollow nerve cord.

In Figure 34.25, which of the following is the sister taxon to the archosaurs? (A) synapsids (B) crocodilians (C) turtles (D) lepidosaurs

Which clade does not include humans? a. synapsids b. lobe-fins c. diapsids d. osteichthyans

Two black female mice are crossed with a brown male. In several litters, female I produced 9 black offspring and 7 brown; female II produced 57 black offspring. What deductions can you make about the inheritance of black and brown coat color in mice? What are the genotypes of the parents?

Why were the Tiktaalik fossils an exciting discovery for scientists studying tetrapod evolution? a. They are the earliest frog-like animal discovered to date. b. They show that tetrapods successfully colonized land much earlier than previously thought. c. They have a roughly equal combination of fishlike and tetrapod-like characteristics. d. They demonstrate conclusively that limbs evolved as lobe-fins dragged themselves from pond to pond during droughts.

Which of the following could be considered the most recent common ancestor of living tetrapods? a. a sturdy-finned, shallow-water lobe-fin whose appendages had skeletal supports similar to those of terrestrial vertebrates b. an armored, jawed placoderm with two pairs of appendages c. an early ray-finned fish that developed bony skeletal supports in its paired fins d. a salamander that had legs supported by a bony skeleton but moved with the side-to-side bending typical of fishes

To estimate the relative abundance of the major phyla, calculate how many named species of arthropods, mollusks, and nematode worms exist per named species of chordate (the phylum containing vertebrates, including humans; see Table 30.1). Do you think these calculations are likely to be underestimates or overestimates? Why?

EVOLUTION CONNECTION Living members of a vertebrate lineage can be very different from early members of the lineage, and evolutionary reversals (character losses) are common. Give examples that illustrate these observations, and explain their evolutionary causes.

There is some evidence that pharyngeal slits occur in certain species of echinoderms that appear early in the fossil record. If confirmed, what do these data suggest? a. Echinoderms are chordates. b. Pharyngeal slits were present in the earliest echinoderms and lost later. c. Some lineages of echinoderms are more closely related to chordates than others. d. Pharyngeal slits should not be used as a trait in phylogenetic analysis.

There is some evidence that pharyngeal slits occur in certain species of echinoderms that appear early in the fossil record. If confirmed, what do these data suggest? a. Echinoderms are chordates. b. Pharyngeal slits were present in the earliest echinoderms and lost later. c. Some lineages of echinoderms are more closely related to chordates than others. d. Pharyngeal slits should not be used as a trait in phylogenetic analysis.

In garden peas, yellow seeds (Y) are dominant to green seeds (y), and inflated pods (I) are dominant to constricted pods (i). Suppose you have crossed YYII parents with yyii parents. List the genotype(s) of gametes produced by F1 individuals.

Consider the evolution of protostomes and deuterostomes (this chapter): (1) Compare adaptations in protostomes and deuterostomes for living on land. (2) Recall that changes in the expression patterns of tool-kit genes in arthropods such as insects enabled a dramatic diversification of their segmented appendages and bodies. Design an experiment to test whether this concept applies to vertebrates.

The smooth feathers on the back of the neck in pigeons can be reversed by a mutation to produce a 'crested' appearance in which feathers form a distinctive spike at the back of the head. A pigeon breeder examined offspring produced by a single pair of non-crested birds and recorded the following: 22 non-crested and 7 crested. She then made a series of crosses using offspring from the first cross. When she crossed two of the crested birds, all 20 of the offspring were crested. When she crossed a non-crested bird with a crested bird, 7 offspring were non-crested and 6 were crested. For these three crosses, provide genotypes for parents and offspring that are consistent with these results.

Compare the adaptations of amphibians and reptiles for terrestrial life.

As a genetic counselor, you advise couples about the possibility of genetic disease in their offspring. Today you met with an engaged couple, both of whom are phenotypically normal. The man, however, has a brother who died of Duchenne-type muscular dystrophy, an X-linked recessive condition. His fiancée, whose family has no history of the disease, is worried that the couple's sons or daughters might be afflicted. The sister of this man is planning to marry his fiancée's brother. How would you advise this second couple?

As a genetic counselor, you advise couples about the possibility of genetic disease in their offspring. Today you met with an engaged couple, both of whom are phenotypically normal. The man, however, has a brother who died of Duchenne-type muscular dystrophy, an X-linked recessive condition. His fiancée, whose family has no history of the disease, is worried that the couple's sons or daughters might be afflicted. How would you advise this couple?

Birds and mammals are both endothermic, and both have four-chambered hearts. Most reptiles are ectothermic and have three-chambered hearts. Why don't biologists group birds with mammals? Why do most biologists now consider birds to be reptiles?

The size and shape of the vertebrate skull can reveal a great deal about an animal's lifestyle and evolutionary relationships. Consider your own skull. If you put your finger in your ear and move your jaw up and down, you can feel the space near the hinge of your jaw. Nestled in this space are the tiny bones that make your hearing possible: the malleus, incus, and stapes. All mammals have these three ear bones, but reptiles such as this T. rex don't. Where did ear bones come from? Analyze the morphological data shown here and write a hypothesis to explain the origin of mammalian ear bones. (The cynodont shown is one of many extinct synapsid amniotes that lived early in the lineage that gave rise to mammals.)

The size and shape of the vertebrate skull can reveal a great deal about an animal's lifestyle and evolutionary relationships. Consider your own skull. If you put your finger in your ear and move your jaw up and down, you can feel the space near the hinge of your jaw. Nestled in this space are the tiny bones that make your hearing possible: the malleus, incus, and stapes. All mammals have these three ear bones, but reptiles such as this T. rex don't. Where did ear bones come from? How is the opossum related to you? Select True or False for each statement. T/F An opossum is an animal, but I am a human. T/F An opossum is a mammal, but I am a human. T/F An opossum is a marsupial, but I am a placental mammal. T/F The opossum and I are both tetrapods.

The size and shape of the vertebrate skull can reveal a great deal about an animal's lifestyle and evolutionary relationships. Consider your own skull. If you put your finger in your ear and move your jaw up and down, you can feel the space near the hinge of your jaw. Nestled in this space are the tiny bones that make your hearing possible: the malleus, incus, and stapes. All mammals have these three ear bones, but reptiles such as this T. rex don't. Where did ear bones come from? The illustration of the opossum skull shows that the ear bones are completely separated from the jawbone (as they are in all mammals). Pose a hypothesis to explain why this separation could be an adaptation that contributed to the radiation of mammals into diverse niches, including a nocturnal lifestyle.

Match each description on the left with the corresponding term on the right Closest relatives of chordates annelids nematodes sponges arthropods flatworms cnidarians molluscs echinoderms chordates

The size and shape of the vertebrate skull can reveal a great deal about an animal's lifestyle and evolutionary relationships. Consider your own skull. If you put your finger in your ear and move your jaw up and down, you can feel the space near the hinge of your jaw. Nestled in this space are the tiny bones that make your hearing possible: the malleus, incus, and stapes. All mammals have these three ear bones, but reptiles such as this T. rex don't. Where did ear bones come from? Gene expression patterns can be used to test hypotheses based on morphology. For example, the regulatory gene Bapx1 is expressed in the hinge of the developing lower jaw in fishes and reptiles. Where would you predict Bapx1 expression to occur in mammals?

Two mothers give birth to sons at the same time in a busy hospital. The son of couple 1 is afflicted with hemophilia A, which is a recessive X-linked disease. Neither parent has the disease. Couple 2 has a normal son even though the father has hemophilia A. The two couples sue the hospital in court, claiming that a careless staff member swapped their babies at birth. You appear in court as an expert witness. What do you tell the jury? Make a diagram that you can submit to the jury.

A good scientific hypothesis is based on existing evidence and leads to testable predictions. What hypothesis did the paleontologists who discovered Tiktaalik test? What evidence did they use to predict where they would find fossils of transitional forms?

The size and shape of the vertebrate skull can reveal a great deal about an animal's lifestyle and evolutionary relationships. Consider your own skull. If you put your finger in your ear and move your jaw up and down, you can feel the space near the hinge of your jaw. Nestled in this space are the tiny bones that make your hearing possible: the malleus, incus, and stapes. All mammals have these three ear bones, but reptiles such as this T. rex don't. Where did ear bones come from? Researchers studied mice embryos as a model organism to determine whether the cells of the ear bones originated from the same embryonic cells as the cells that form the jaw in other vertebrates. Why would the researchers use mice instead of humans? Do the results from mice tell you something about your own ears? Why or why not?

The size and shape of the vertebrate skull can reveal a great deal about an animal's lifestyle and evolutionary relationships. Consider your own skull. If you put your finger in your ear and move your jaw up and down, you can feel the space near the hinge of your jaw. Nestled in this space are the tiny bones that make your hearing possible: the malleus, incus, and stapes. All mammals have these three ear bones, but reptiles such as this T. rex don't. Where did ear bones come from? Evolution often results in the co-option of a preexisting structure for a new use. Cite three examples from this chapter to support this statement. Evolution can also result in the loss of a trait. Cite three examples from this chapter.

Recall that hemophilia is an X-linked recessive disease. If a woman with hemophilia had children with a man without hemophilia, what is the chance that their first child will have the disease? What is the chance that their first child will be a carrier?

The size and shape of the vertebrate skull can reveal a great deal about an animal's lifestyle and evolutionary relationships. Consider your own skull. If you put your finger in your ear and move your jaw up and down, you can feel the space near the hinge of your jaw. Nestled in this space are the tiny bones that make your hearing possible: the malleus, incus, and stapes. All mammals have these three ear bones, but reptiles such as this T. rex don't. Where did ear bones come from?

A marine biologist has dredged up an unknown animal from the seafloor. Describe some of the characteristics that could be used to determine the animal phylum to which the creature should be assigned.