zoo102 - mammalia metatheria

8/4/2019 Zoo102 - Mammalia Metatheria

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The subclass Prototheria contains the egg-laying

mammals, which are the most ancestral forms in the

class Mammalia. Prototherians are so unique among

mammals that there is little question that they represent a

distinct and ancient branch of the mammalian family tree.


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a) Monotremes are restricted to Australia and New

Guinea.

b) Their fossil record is very poor; the earliest fossilattributed to this group is from the early Cretaceous.

c) A fossil from Argentina suggests that the monotremes

were more widely distributed early in their history.


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Order : Monotremata

Families : Ornithorhynchidae & Tachyglossidae

Monotypic genera: Tachyglossus,Zaglossus &

Ornithorhynchus

*There are only five living monotreme species : the duck-

billed platypus and four species of echidna (a.k.a. Spiny

anteaters)


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Ornithorhynchus anatinus


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Characteristics:

Webbed feet

Beaverlike tail

Electro-sensitive bill

Flat, streamlined body Strong swimmer but not fast

Have a muzzle that is shaped like the bill of a duck

Its fur is some of the waterproof in the animal kingdom

The platypus is found in Eastern Australia in freshwater

streams and rivers


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Nocturnal

One of the two egg-laying mammal

Young platypus are weaned at five months old


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Also referred to as Spiny anteater


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Echidnas are generally found all over Australia andNew Guinea. They can survive a range of temperaturesand habitats. Though mostly nocturnal, in mild weatherthey can be seen during the day, but if the weather isextreme (either very cold or hot) Echidnas will stay inshelter (under rocks, fallen timber or burying themselvesin the ground) .

There are four species of Echidna. Three of theseexclusively resides in New Guinea and belong to theZaglossus genera. These includes : Western long-beaked,Sir Davids Long-beaked & Eastern Long-beaked.The

fourth species belongs to the tachyglossus genus whichresides throughout Australia and on New Guinea is the:Short-beaked Echidna.


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35- 45 cm long

Weighs about 2-7 kg

Pointy snout

Sharp claws for digging Extremely long sticky tongue

Has two types of hair , one type is a normal short coarse

hair and the other one is a long sharp spine (fingernail-like

hardness).


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Echidnas are found all over Australia from the

highlands to deserts to forests The Echidna has no fixed

home except when the female is suckling its young.

Echidnas can be found in a variety of shelters from rocks

to fallen wood, small caves, or even under bushes .


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The Echidnas main requirement is a large supply of

ants and termites. They normally eat at night. The tip of its

snout or nose is sensitive to electrical signals from an

insect body thus it searches and "sniffs" out ant and

termite nests. Echidnas then normally tears into the mound

or nest with its sharp claws (front feet) and its snout

exposing the ants or termites and then catching them with

its fast flicking sticky tongue. Because they have no teeth

the Echidna crushes the insects between horny pads in its

mouth.


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Female echidna develops a pouch during the mating

season. After mating, the female digs a burrow and lays

one soft leathery egg in her pouch. That takes 10 days to

hatch and then stays in the pouch. Once spines develops

on the young, its evicted from the pouch and stays in the

burrow.

*Baby Echidna is called Puggle.


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Metatheria , also known as Marsupials, comprise 9

orders, 23 families and around 330 species. Most of these

species are concentrated in Australasia but some 100 odd

species are also found in the America. These animals have

usually been in competition with Eutherians and have

given ground in areas where both had to fight for the same

ecological niche


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Most marsupials are found today in Australasia(200

species) and the rest are usually found in South and

Central America. Metatherians are highly adapted

creatures and today most of them are to be found in

Australasia while some species hold out against the

onslaught of their eutherian cousins in Central and South

America.


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Marsupials has seven orders, namely :

a) Dasyuromorphia (dasyuroid marsupials & marsupial

carnivores)

b) Didelphimorphia (American marsupials)

c) Diprotodontia (kangaroos, possums, wallabies, and

relatives)d) Microbiotheria (monito del monte)

e) Notoryctemorphia (marsupial moles)

f) Paucituberculata (shrew opossums)

g) Peramelemorphia (bandicoots and bilbies)


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This comprises most carnivorous marsupials,including quolls, dunnarts, numbat, Tasmanian Devil, andthe recently extinct Thylacine. The only exceptions are theomnivorous bandicoots (order Peramelemorphia) and the

marsupial moles .

There are three families: one with just a singlemember, one with only extinct members, including the

late "Tasmanian Tiger" (Thylacine - Thylacinuscynocephalus), and one, Dasyuridae, with about 70members.


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Typically between about 15 or 20 grams and about 2

kilograms

from the size of a domestic mouse to that of a small

domestic cat


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Tasmanian Devil

Sarcophilus harrisii

Southern Dibbler

Parantechinus apicalis


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Tasmanian Tiger

Thylacinus cynocephalus

(extinct)


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Contains the common opossums of the western

hemisphere. They tend to be semi-arboreal omnivores,

although there are many exceptions. Most members of this

taxon have long snouts, a narrow braincase, and a

prominent sagittal crest. Didelphimorphs have a

plantigrade stance (feet flat on the ground).


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Didelphidae


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Found all over America

Small to medium in body size

Have full compliment of teeth

Most are omnivores and carnivores Found mostly in habitats from sea level to over 300m


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Paucitubercolata

species have a unique

feature in that each

incisor has only onecusp or protruding

bump on its crown. This

is most unlike other

mammal species hencethe name which means

"tuber teeth".


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Carnivorous

About 9-14 cm long

Lives in underground burrows and surface runways

Have poor eyesight thus uses its hearign and highlysensitive whiskers to hunt for prey


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Paucitubercolata lives in inaccessible forest and

grassland regions of the High Andes . Other insectivores

were entirely absent from South America until the Great

American Interchange three million years ago, and are

currently present only in the northwestern part of the

continent. Shrew opossums have lost ground to the these

and other placental invaders that fill the same ecological

niches. Nevertheless, the ranges of shrew opossums and

insectivores overlap broadly.


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This order of marsupialsMicrobiotheria that means "little

wild animal contains only one

family (Microbiotheridae) with

one living species - Dromiciops

australis, common name "monito

del monte", translated into English

as little mountain monkey.Dromiciopas


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Peculiar skull

Premaxillae is elongated

Nasal is extended posteriorly

Well developed marsupium or pouch

Long tailed (tail serves as fat storage for hibernation)


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Monitos del monte live in dense, humid vegetation in

the mountains of southern Chile and Argentina. They have

a special liking for thickets of bamboo. Monitos del monte

are primarily insectivorous, feeding in the trees as well as

on the ground, but they also consume vegetation.


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The name of this order

combines two words notos (of the

south) and oruktes(one who digs).

This order is represented by 1

family containing a single genus

and species, Notoryctes typhlops;

although some scientists

(typically, bickering among

themselves) recognize a second

species, Notorcytes caurinus.


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They are blind

Female pouch is backward facing

Nose has a rubbery shield to protect it in case it

bumps against something hard than the sand


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Diprotodontia are distinguished by their large,

front teeth. The name of this order is derived from the

words "protos" and "odontos", meaning two teeth.

This order is chock full of herbivores and includes

many species high in the scale of cuteness, including

but not limited to Koalas, hare wallabies and tree

kangaroos. They all originated sometime around 25

million years ago and have weathered the change inthe Australian landscape from lush forests to scrub

deserts with some panache.


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The name of this order

means pouched badger-shaped

animal. The name of this ordermeans pouched badger-shaped

animal.


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Look across between a rabbit and a rat

Pouches opens backward

Their forefeet have three toes

Ranges from 7-23 inches Geographically located atAustralia

zoo102 - mammalia metatheria

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