Biology Review and Vocabulary Part 6

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Acanthodians: any of a group of ancient jawed fishes from the Devonian period

Amniotes: member of a clade of tetrapods that have an amniotic egg containing specialized membranes that protect the embryo, including mammals and birds and other reptiles

Amphibians: member of the tetrapod class Amphibia, including salamanders, frogs, and caecilians

Anthropoids: a member of a primate group made up of the apes (gibbon, orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo), monkeys, and humans

Archosaurs: member of the reptilian group that includes crocodiles, alligators, dinosaurs, and birds

Chondrichthyans: member of the class Chondrichthyes, vertebrates with skeletons made mostly of cartilage, such as sharks and rays

Chordates: member of the phylum Chordata, animals that at some point during their development have a notochord; a dorsal, hollow nerve cord; pharyngeal slits or clefts; and a muscular, post-anal tail

Cloaca: a common opening for the digestive, urinary, and reproductive tracts found in many nonmammalian vertebrates but in few mammals

Conodonts: ancient lineage of jawless vertebrates that arose during the Cambrian period

Craniates: a chordate with a head

Diapsids: member of an amniote clade distinguished by a pair of holes on each side of the skull, including the lepidosaurs and archosaurs

Dinosaurs: member of an extremely diverse group of ancient reptiles varying in body shape, size, and habitat

Endothermic: referring to organisms with bodies that are warmed by heat generated by metabolism. This heat is usually used to maintain a relatively stable body temperature higher than that of the external environment

Eutherians: placental mammal; mammal whose young complete their embryonic development within the uterus, joined to the mother by the placenta

Extraembryonic membranes: four membranes (yolk sac, amnion, chorion, allantois) that support the developing embryo in mammals and birds and other reptiles

Gnathostomes: member of the vertebrate subgroup possessing jaws

Hominids: a species on the human branch of the evolutionary tree; a member of the family Hominidae, including Homo sapiens and our ancestors

Hominoids: a term that refers to great apes and humans

Lancelets: member of the subphylum Cephalochordata, small blade-shaped marine chordates that lack a backbone

Lateral line system: a mechanoreceptor system consisting of a series of pores and receptor units (neuromasts) along the sides of the body in fishes and aquatic amphibians; detects water movements made by the animal itself and by other moving objects

Lepidosaurs: member of the reptilian group that includes lizards, snakes, and two species of New Zealand animals called tuataras

Lobe-fins: member of the vertebrate subgroup Sarcopterygii, osteichthyans with rod-shaped muscular fins, including coelacanths and lungfishes, as well as the lineage that gave rise to tetrapods

Marsupials: a mammal, such as a koala, kangaroo, or opossum, whose young complete their embryonic development inside a maternal pouch called the marsupium

Monotremes: an egg-laying mammal, represented by the platypus and echidna

Mosaic evolution: the evolution of different features of an organism at different rates

Neural crest: a band of cells along the border where the neural tube pinches off from the ectoderm. The cells migrate to various parts of the embryo and form the pigment cells in the skin, bones of the skull, the teeth, the adrenal glands, and parts of the peripheral nervous system

Notochord: a long flexible rod that runs along the dorsal axis of the body in the future position of the vertebral column

Operculum: in aquatic osteichthyans, a protective bony flap that covers and protects the gills

Opposable thumb: an arrangement of the fingers such that the thumb can touch the ventral surface of the fingertips of all four fingers

Osteichthyans: member of a vertebrate subgroup with jaws and mostly bony skeletons

Oviparous: referring to a type of development in which young hatch from eggs laid outside the mother’s body
Ovoviviparous: referring to a type of development in which young hatch from eggs that are retained in the mother’s uterus

Paleoanthropology: the study of human origins and evolution

Parareptiles: first major group of reptiles to emerge, mostly large, stocky quadrupedal herbivores; died out in the late Triassic period

Pharyngeal clefts: in chordate embryos, grooves that separate a series of pouches along the sides of the pharynx and may develop into pharyngeal slits

Pharyngeal slits: in chordate embryos, slits that form from the pharyngeal clefts and communicate to the outside, later developing into gill slits in many vertebrates

Placenta: a structure in the pregnant uterus for nourishing a viviparous fetus with the mother’s blood supply; formed from the uterine lining and embryonic membranes

Placoderms: a member of an extinct class of fishlike vertebrates that had jaws and were enclosed in a tough, outer armor

Pterosaurs: winged reptile that lived during the time of dinosaurs

Ratites: member of the group of flightless birds

Ray-finned fishes: member of the class Actinopterygii, aquatic osteichthyans with fins supported by long, flexible rays, including tuna, bass, and herring

Reptile: member of the clade of amniotes that includes tuatara, lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodilians, and birds
Ectothermic: referring to organisms that do not produce enough metabolic heat to have much effect on body temperature

Somites: paired blocks of mesoderm just lateral to the notochord of a vertebrate embryo

Spiral valve: A corkscrew-shaped ridge that increases surface area and prolongs the passage of food along the short digestive tract

Synapsids: in aquatic osteichthyans, an air sac that enables the animal to control its buoyancy in the water

Tetrapods: a vertebrate with two pairs of limbs, including mammals, amphibians, and birds and other reptiles

Theropods: a member of an ancient group of dinosaurs that were bipedal carnivores

Tunicates: members of the subphylum Urochordata, sessile marine chordates that lack a backbone

Vertebrates: a chordate animal with a backbone: the mammals, reptiles (including birds), amphibians, sharks and rays, ray-finned fishes, and lobe-fins

Viviparous: referring to a type of development in which the young are born alive after having been nourished in the uterus by blood from the placenta

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