Name: Anirudh Nair

Lab Day and Time: Friday 11 am- 1pm (Travis)

Geo 405: Life Through Time

Lab 8: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

This lab gives you the opportunity to virtually examine some of the fossil specimens on display
at virtual museums. Answer the following questions using the provided links and images.

Our first stop is the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH):
https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/vt3/NMNH/z_tour-022.html

Smithsonian David H. Koch Hall of Fossils and Deep Time

Go to the Smithsonian link provided at the beginning of this assignment. You can use
your keyboard / mouse or the buttons at the bottom of the screen to move and look around. You
can zoom in to read the text and see fossils better too. Navigate using the floor map on the top
right side of your screen. You can hide this map by x-ing out of it; you can retrieve it again by
clicking “first” on the top right of your screen. While this virtual exhibit is purportedly available
on all devices, it is recommended you use a computer for maximum ease and to ensure that
instructions given in this assignment match what you see on screen.

1. Let’s start! In the GREEN section of the floor map find “Jurassic Dinosaurs Plants and
Insects.” Turn right to find the pterosaur above the hallway. Zoom in and look at the pterosaur.
How has the “hand” of this organism adapted for flight? What bones have been elongated?
The “hands” are made up of three small digits and one elongated digit that stretches out
the flap of skin of flight. The 4th digit appears to be the ones that is elongated.

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2. How does the flight mechanism of
pterosaurs differ from that of birds? From
that of bats? In other words, how does the
structure of their wings differ? Are these
structures homologous or analogous?

Bats appear to have 4 fingers elongated

digits (but the 1st one next to the thumb
is the main one). Birds have elongated
digits 2 and 3 and lost 4 and 5.

These are examples of analogous

structures. Bats have what are
essentially skin flaps and birds have
feathers, but Pterosaurs were kind of
in the middle. Pterosaurs flew using
their forelimbs and had long fibers that
extended from the front to the back of
the wings.

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3. Go to “Early Life in the Ocean.” Look at the center-right display case. What Bambachian
Ecospace did the brachiopods on display occupy? When did most crinoids disappear?

They occupy primarily benthic marine ecospace (from Lab 7) and are immotile, so they are
mainly filter feeders. The crinoids disappeared during the Permian mass extinction, about
252 mya.

4. In the same hall, go to “Permian Extinction 1” and “Permian Extinction 2”. When was the
Permian Extinction? What are three differences between life before the mass extinction and after
the mass extinction?

The Permian extinction was 252 mya. Bivalves took a massive hit in the extinction and were
almost wiped out, but they managed to survive. Brachiopods were the most dominant
species before the extinction, but afterwards they were not. Cephalopods were one of the
relatively less represented species before the extinction, but afterwards they capitalized on
the catastrophe and thrived afterwards relative to other species.

5. In the same hall, go to “Life Changes in the Permian”. You arrive facing a Dimetrodon: turn
around to look at the display titled “Strange Sharks and Freaky Fishes” behind you. What is the
predominant part of the body that has fossilized? Why? What makes the specimen at the top left
of the display so special?

Jaws and teeth were the hardest parts of the sharks and rays (the rest were cartilage) and
they fossilized. Cartilage doesn’t fossilize well because they are softer tissue compared to
the jaws and teeth. The specimen has parts that were cartilage that fossilized like the fins.

6. In the same hall, go to “Dinosaur Evolution and Trees of the Triassic” Turn until you find the
display titled “Technicolor Tree Fossils.” What type of fossilization is exhibited by the fossilized
wood? How do you know?

Permineralization was the type of fossilization. The organic matter in the tree was replaced
with minerals while still retaining the original structure. The minerals from the

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groundwater seeped into the wood as it decayed.

7. At the same location, turn to find “Evolution Generates Diversity.” Look at the dinosaur
family tree and explore the cladogram on display.

What are the terminal taxa (Don’t worry about the taxa that you cannot read represented by
images in circles)?

Pachycephalosaurs, Ceratopsians, Ornithopods, Ankylosaurs, Stegosaurs,

and Sauropods.

Pachycephalosaurs are members of four clades in this cladogram. What are the four clades
Pachycephalosaurs, Ceratopsians, Heterodontosaurs and Ornithischians.

What terminal taxa survived the K-Pg Mass Extinction? What clade does this group belong to?
Birds survived. Theropods is the clade.

8. Go to “End Cretaceous Mass Extinction Event and View of Early Horse and Green River
Fossils.” Look at the display titled “Snapshot: Ancient Lakes and Woodlands.” Look at the
fossils on display. What kind of diversity do you see? What kind of depositional environment
was this? What kind of preservation do you see?

There seems to be lots of animals and fauna that you would expect from a river or lake (i.e.
fish, reptiles). Lacustrine is the depositional environment. Carbonization is the primary
form of preservation.

9. Return to “Life Changes in the Permian” and look at Dimetrodon. Based upon the pattern of
skull openings, is Dimetrodon more closely related to dinosaurs or to humans?

Dimetrodons have the temporal fenestra, which are found in humans but not in dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs have diapsids. So that means that the Dimetrodon is more closely related to
humans than dinosaurs.

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10. Primitively (plesiomorphicly), tetrapods held themselves up and walked with a sprawling
posture (e.g. Eryops and Cacops). Other tetrapods, such as modern crocodilians, evolved a
semi-erect posture. This means they hold themselves further off the ground when walking.
Their limbs are straighter than the early tetrapods, but they are not yet fully erect. At least two
major tetrapod groups evolved an upright posture, with the limbs held directly beneath the
body. UPRIGHT DOES NOT MEAN BIPEDAL! An animal can have an upright posture and
walk about on all four limbs (quadrupedal). Does Dimetrodon possess a sprawling, semi-erect
or upright posture? What posture did dinosaurs have?

The Dimetrodon appears to have an upright posture since they seem to hold themselves off
the ground when walking. Dinosaurs had upright postures (i.e. T-Rex, brachiosaurus)

11. Go to “A Riot of Evolution After the Mass Extinction.” Animals that do not share recent
common ancestry sometimes evolve similar morphology and fill similar roles in their
environments. This is known as convergence, and it is an example of homoplasy (similarity not
a result of common ancestry). Examine the phytosaur (the largest specimen in the display).

a) What modern animals share similar morphology and probably a similar lifestyle?

The first one that came into my mind was the crocodile. In fact the whole body
looks strikingly similar to that of a crocodile or alligator.

b) What kind of things do you think phytosaurs ate?

By the looks of it, other large animals in the swamp.

12. In the same hall go to “Reptiles Move Back to the Ocean in the Jurassic.” What new kind of
fish arrived on the scene in the Triassic? What was special about this fish?

Fish with mobile mouths. The Teleost is an example of this, and this allowed such
fish to catch prey that others cannot by protruding their mouth, sucking their prey in and
then closing its mouth.

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13. In the same hall, go to “Stegosaurus Spikes vs. Ceratosaurus Claws” and look all around you
(feel free to move to a different spot if you feel you get a better vantage point). The two major
displays at this spot represent fundamentally different groups of organisms from different
depositional realms. What are these differences?

One adaptation is defensive: the stegosaurus was a herbivore and had to fend off
carnivores that might want to prey on it. The stegosaurus had a flexible tail to also fend off
any enemies. Also, its big girth makes it seem unappealing for any single enemy to take it
on. The other adaptation is offensive: long, serrated teeth on the Ceratosaurus makes it
clear that it was a carnivore that. Moreover, the Ceratosaurus is thin and nimble unlike the
stegosaurus, so it was easier to move around and make attacks; it also had strong jaws to
help it hold on to prey.

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14. Mosasaurus maximus (www.flickr.com/photos/9549670@N05/44071132211) is a member
of the monophyletic group Varanoidea, which includes living monitor lizards and snakes.

a) Examine the skeletal structure. Why do you think the pectoral and pelvic girdles have
loose connections to the vertebral column?

This disconnection helped their fins move and thus they moved faster in the water.

b) Mosasaurs have a “second set” of teeth called pterygoid teeth (Jurassic World got
something right at least)? What modern animals have pterygoid teeth?

Snakes have this extra set of teeth.

c) How do you think these pterygoid teeth may have been useful to mosasaurs? Hint:
think about how modern animals with pterygoid teeth eats their prey.

The extra set of teeth are quite useful to grip underwater prey. It makes it easier to
handle and swallow prey.

d) How might the presence of pterygoid teeth help place mosasaurs in a cladogram (i.e.
how would this character help us determine evolutionary relationships with modern
organisms)?

Their extra set of teeth can place them in relation to the modern reptiles like snakes
and monitor lizards.

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15. Spend some time exploring the left side of the David H. Koch hall (e.g. around the cartoon
dinosaur on the map and towards the mammoth cartoon in the grey entrance hall).
a) From the animals you have seen today, in what two groups (not individual taxa) has
the upright posture evolved?

Dinosaurs and Birds

b) Is an upright posture in both of these groups due to common ancestry (homology), or

convergence (homoplasy)?

Homology

16. In the same hall, go to “Ice Age Extinction Event 1” Examine the large armored extinct
glyptodontid mammal Glyptotherium in the foreground of the display “Life Changes as Earth
Changes”. What animal do you think is this fossil’s living relative?

It looks like armadillos might be a close relative.

17. Go to “Fossil Basecamp Education Center: 2” (in the hall by the trilobite cartoon) and turn
left to find the display “How Did All These Bones Get Here?” This is an example of a bone bed.
Bone beds are a neat type of Lagerstätte because they represent a concentration of fossils rather
than conservation of soft tissue (i.e. a Konzentrat-Lagerstätte vs. a Konservat-Lagerstätte).
Although bone beds can be formed by a mass death, like in Pompeii, it only takes about one
animal every hundred years to produce a bone bed. On the next page, the fossil skeleton in the
top image is from Texas and the ones in the bottom image are from California (see more
examples here: https://tarpits.org/experience-tar-pits/fossil-lab). Why are the Californian bones
(e.g. the jaws) darker than the Texan fossil? Hint: think about the depositional environments in
which these fossils were found.

California had tar pits which caused the bones to be darker. For instance, La Brea tar pit.

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Fossil jaws of saber-toothed cats, left, and ancient coyotes, right, at the La Brea Tar Pits Museum.
(Stephanie DeMarco / Los Angeles Times)

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We are now leaving the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. We hope you
enjoyed your visit!

18. Check out the Eurypterids in the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life:
www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/?s=eurypterid What invertebrate group (i.e. phylum) do
eurypterids belong to? What characteristic(s) assign them to that group?

Arthropods. They are invertebrates with exoskeletons made of chitin and jointed limbs and
segmented bodies.

19. What are three types of invertebrate fossils held in the Nonvertebrate Paleontology
Collections here at UT Austin that are found in Texas?
https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/npl/collections/invertebrates/

Arthropods (crabs and lobsters), Brachiopods, Corals

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20. A) Fill in the following data matrix for Xiphactinus
(https://www.cretaceousatlas.org/species/xiphactinus-audax/), Dimetrodon
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dimetrodon_incisivum_01.jpg), Homotherium
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Homotheriumtex1.JPG), and Mylohyus
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Mylohyus_nasutus.jpg) and use the
filled in matrix to draw a cladogram showing the hypothetical relationship of these taxa. Use “0”
for Absent and “1” for Present.

Xiphactinus Dimetrodon Homotherium Mylohyus

A) Upright Stance 0 1 1 1
B) More than one tooth shape 0 0 1 1
C) Elongate snout and tusks 0 1 0 1
D) Neck vertebrae 0 1 1 1
E) Boney skeleton 1 1 1 1
F) Sail on back (tall vertebrae) 0 1 0 0
G) Two forelimbs & hindlimbs 1 1 1 1

B) Draw a cladogram, using the principle of parsimony and the data from the matrix above.

C) Which character(s) is/are plesiomorphic?

Neck vertebrae, Boney skeleton, and the frontlimbs and hindlimbs.

D) Which character(s) is/are autapomorphic? For which taxa?

The sail . Dimetrodon.

E) Which character(s) is/are synapomorphic?

Upright stance, elongate snout and tusks, neck vertebrae, boney

skeleton, two forelimbs and hindlimbs, more than one tooth shape

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F) List a symplesiomorphic character for this group
The forelimbs and hindlimbs

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