Mammalogy
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19 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Monotremata | Subclass Prototheria. Monotremes: Echidna and Platypus |
| Subclass Theria | Infraclass Metatheria. Marsupials. |
| Didelphimorphia | Opposums. Ancestral type for all marsupials. Long prehensile tail, arboreal. |
| Dasyuromorphia | "hairy tail" carnivorous marsupials. Shrew- to dog-sized. Marsupium absent or poorly developed. Terrestrial, diverse. |
| Diprotodontia | Kangaroos/wallabies and smaller species with two front teeth. Some species convergent with flying squirrel (sugar glider). Kangaroos/wallabies homologous to antelopes or deer. |
| Peramelemorphia | Bandicoots |
| Eutheria | Placental Mammals |
| Superorder Afrotheria | African origin, includes 6 orders of placental mammals. |
| Afrosoricida | Share characteristics of the old Insectivora. Most, not all, eat insects and small inverts. Mammals that don't fit anywhere else. Simple teeth - insectivores. Small body size. Examples: Tenrec, Golden mole. Tenrec uses stridulation. |
| Macroscelidea | Elephant Shrews - elongated flexible snout. Rat- to mouse-sized. Different from insectivores - has cecum, zygomatic arches, auditory bullae, and small olfactory lobes. Monogamous, live in open, diurnal, saltation. |
| Tubulidentata | Aardvark, only species in order. Adaptations for digging - hoof-like claws; adaptations for eating ants/termites - long sticky tongue, pyloric stomach. Teeth have tubular pulp cavities, oval or figure eight shaped. |
| Hyracoidea | Hyrax. Rabbit-sized, resemble rodents. Enlarged incisors. Diastema present. Weird feet - short toes, gladular adhesive pads, grooming claw on second digit, flat nails resemble hooves. Herbivorous, colonial |
| Proboscidea | Elephants. Top incisors enlarged to tusks. Cheek teeth replaced from back when shed (from front). 5 digits on each foot, digits have hoof-like nail. Trunk - fusion and elongation of upper lip and rostrum. Asian and African; potential 3 species (2x african). Matrilineal social groups. Infrasound for communication. |
| Sirenia | Manatee, dugong, sea cow. Tropical or subtropical. Fully aquatic, lack of hind limbs, front limbs modified as flippers, tail laterally flattened for flipper. Nares high on skull, cheek teeth replaced from rear. Canines (sometimes incisors) absent. Vibrissae on lip and body. |
| Superorder Xenarthra | Unusual animals - Armadillos, sloths, anteaters. |
| Cingulata | Armadillos. Carapace - covers most of body, made of dermal bone plates covered by epidermal scales; attached to axial skeleton. Sparse hair, lacks incisors or canines. Teeth cylindrical and rootless. Digging, eat insects and larvae, sometimes berries, plant material, eggs. |
| Pilosa | Sloths and Anteaters. Sloths - syndactyly (fused toes), cervical vertebrae variable in number. Very low metabolic rate. Anteaters - Long tubular rostrums, small mouths. No teeth, pyloric portion. |
| Erinaceomorpha | Hedgehogs. Short spines, roll up in ball. Omnivorous - teeth include molars, incisors. Heterothermic heat regulation; capable of hibernation (obligate in some species) |
| Soricomorpha | Moles, solenodons, shrews. Moles - fossorial, robust front limbs, keeled sternum, small eyes, insectivorous. Solenodons - muskrat-sized, roll in ball, but no spines, submaxillary gland toxin. Shrews - smallest of all mammals, one family has red-pigmented teeth, insectivorous, one species has venemous saliva - neurotoxin, prefer mesic habitat. |
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