Vertebrate Taxonomy

Phylum Chordata

• Several classes of fish– Jawless fishes – Sharks and rays– Bony fish

• Class Amphibia (frogs, toads, salamanders) • Class Testudines (turtles, tortoises) • Class Lepidosauromorpha (snakes, lizards) • Class Crocodilia (alligators, crocodiles) • Class Aves (birds) • Class Mammalia (mammals)

Class Amphibia

• Two stage life cycle– Aquatic larvae– Terrestrial adult

• Respiratory structures– Gills (larvae)– Lungs (adult)– Skin

• Mucous and poison skin glands

• Three-chambered heart• Ectothermic• Egg-layers

– Must lay eggs in or near water

• Major groups– Gymnophiona

• Caecilians– Caudata

• Salamanders– Anura

• Frogs and toads

Reptiles

• Shelled amniotic egg• Skin hard and brittle• Many have bony

plates under scales• Three-chambered

heart• Ectothermic

• Major groups– Turtles– Crocodilians– Tuatara– Lizards– Snakes

Birds

• Feathers– Temperature regulation– Flight

• Bill toothless mandibles covered with horny sheath

• Endothermic• Four-chambered heart• Eggs with great parental

investment

• Adaptations for flight– Feathers– Fused bones of pelvis, feet,

hands and head– Furcula– Hollow bones– Highly efficient respiratory

and circulatory systems– Musculature of chest

Class Aves

• Many orders of birds– Columbiformes: doves and

pigeons– Falconiformes: diurnal birds

of prey– Apodiformes: hummingbirds– Gruiformes: cranes and rails– Piciformes: woodpeckers– Strigiformes: owls– Anseriformes: ducks and

geese– Galliformes: chickens and

turkeys– Passeriformes: perching birds

Mammals

• Hair• Endothermic• Four-chambered

heart• Large brain• Dentition

– Teeth specialized– Incisors, canines,

premolars, molars

• Reproduction– Mammary glands– Most mammmals

viviparous– Development of young

within the mother• Pouch (Metatherians)• Placenta (Eutherians)

Class Mammalia

• Many orders of mammals– Rodentia: rodents– Chiroptera: bats– Insectivora: shrews and

moles– Carnivora: cats, dogs,

bears, weasels, raccoons– Lagomorpha: rabbits– Artiodactyla: ungulates– Primates– Didelphimorphia:

American marsupials

Herp Traps

• Pitfall traps– Useful for catching

terrestrial arthropods and small mammals

– Usually include drift fence to increase capture rate

Mist Nets

Mammal Traps

Sherman trapsSherman traps

Leg-hold trapsLeg-hold traps

Tomahawk trapsTomahawk traps

““Noose” trapsNoose” traps

Snap trapsSnap traps

Noninvasive Techniques

Bat DetectorsBat Detectors

Tracking StationsTracking Stations

Scent StationsScent Stations

ObservationObservationTrailmaster CamerasTrailmaster Cameras

Unknown songbird

Unknown duck

Unknown small mammal skin

Unknown large mammal skin and skull

Unknown Herp #1

Unknown Herp #2

Unknown Herp #3