Reptile Evolution

Origin of derivatives
Ancestral reptile = anapsid , small, legs out to sides.
A brief look at Classification

“Old view” = Amphibians give rise to reptiles, reptiles

give rise to birds and mammals
phyletic patterns.
Major radiation into
all ways of life;
terrestrial, aquatic,
aerial.
New View of Taxonomy = Cladistics common derived characteristics

Problem with reptiles = heart structure.

• fossil reptiles that give rise to mammals appear early in
reptile history and leave no descendents
modern reptiles heart structure is different from mammal structure,
so cant derive modern mammals from modern reptiles.
so in Cladistics, kick mammal ancestors out of the reptiles
(if it looks like a lizard, it is a lizard???)
Living anapsids = chelonia, the turtles
Shoulder girdle inside shell, which is ribs and vertebrae!!
Skull is anapsid = no hole
But has a notch at back which
serves the same purpose,
accommodate the jaw
muscles.
Ichthyosaurs: fully aquatic, but
air breathing. A reptile
equivalent to whales or
porpoises. Mostly fish eating.
Plesiosaurs; snake neck strung
through a turtle body. Came on
land to lay eggs probably.
Lepidosaurs: snakes, lizards
Start out diapsid (two holes
behind the eye
In snakes, one opening, and
extra hinges in jaw.
Archosaurs = major
dinosaur groups

Plus crocodiles, and

bird ancestry.
A very diverse and complex group. -
die out at Cretaceous boundary =
meteor?
Pterosaurs = hang glider wings.
Archosaurs: wide variety, carnivorous, plant eaters, now known to be
social, etc.
Allometry: changes in
proportion with growth.

Means young often

considered different species
from adults.
Stegosaurus; plate back
Functions:?
courtship
thermoregulation?
Crocodiles; surviving archosaurs, in past many
terrestrial.