Vertebrate zoology

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 The biological classification system

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Classification:

• Domain: Eukarya (Eukaryotic cells = “true nucleus”).

• Kingdom:Animalia(Multi-cellular heterotrophs).

• Phylum: Chordata.

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 1. Introduction
1.1. What is a Vertebrate?
Definition:
1. What are vertebrates?
 A chordate is an animal belonging to the phylum
Chordata.
 Animals have a vertebra (backbone), skull and
several other skeletal bones which form an
endoskeleton.
 Chordates are deuterostomes, as during the embryo
development stage the anus forms before the mouth.
 It includes humans and other vertebrates.
 All vertebrates are bilaterally symmetrical with two
pairs of appendages - limbs, fins, wings, etc.
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1.2. What are chordates?
• Have spinal cord (dorsal, hollow nerve cord).

• Front end of spinal cord develops a brain.

•The alternative name of the subphylum “craniata” sine all

have a cranium(bony or cartilaginous), but some jawless fishes
lack vertebrae.

• Chordate evolution is a history of innovations that is built

upon major invertebrate traits.

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 Cont…

• They display many of the basic traits that first evolved in the
invertebrates:
• bilateral symmetry, cephalization, segmentation, coelom,
"gut" tube, metamerism, etc.
• However, the exact phylogenetic position of chordates within
the animal kingdom is unclear.
 In comparison with invertebrates, vertebrates have
more developed organ systems.
 They have higher nervous system, which is divided into
central and peripheral nervous system.

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 Classes of vertebrates

A. Fish
 Cold blooded

 Fines
 Scales

 Breath with gills

 Eyes always on the side of the head
 Lay egg in water

 Life cycle include a larvae stage Eg:- Shark , trout

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 B. Reptiles

 Cold blooded
 Scales
 Breath with lungs
 Many have four legs ( with three or five toes) but some
of them have no legs.
 Some lay leathery egg, some give birth to live young.

Example :- Lizards, snakes, crocodiles, turtles

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 C. Amphibians

 Cold blooded.
 Moist Skin.
 Breath with lung , skin, or gills.
 Most have four legs, some have two legs, toes never
have claws.
 Lay eggs – Usually in a jelly like mass in water.

Example :- Frogs , toads, salamanders

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 D. Birds

 Warm blooded
 Feathers
 Breath with lungs and air sacs
 Wings
 Store food in crops and grind food in gizzards
 Lay hard - shelled eggs
 Oil gland ( helps water proof feathers)
 Hollow or partly hollow bones

Example
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:- Ducks , Penguins, warblers 10
 E. Mammals

Warm blooded.
 Most have hair.
 Breath with lungs and have muscular diaphragm.

 Most give birth and live young.

 Nurse their young with milk.
 Gland in the skin ( oil, sweat, scent, milk).
 Different kinds of teeth for eating different types of food.
 Large , well developed brain.

Example :- People, kangaroo….

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 Characteristics by:

Integument,

 Endostyle or Thyroid Gland

Endoskeleton

Complete, muscularized digestive tract,

Well-developed Ventral heart,

Tripartite brain,( Fore, Hind, mid

Endocrine system of ductless glands scattered throughout

the body,
Nearly
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 Vertebral column present (bone / cartilage).
 High degree of cephalization.
 Paired kidneys,
 Specialized organ systems.
e.g., closed circulatory system;
 specialized kidneys.

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 Endostyle or Thyroid Gland
• The endostyle in the pharyngeal floor, secretes mucus
that traps food particles
 Found in proto chordates and lamprey larvae
 Secretes iodinated proteins
• Homologous to the iodinated-hormone-secreting thyroid
gland in adult lampreys and other vertebrates

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 Cont…

• Circulatory system consisting of a ventral heart of two to

four chambers;
• a closed blood circulatory system (closed blood vessel
system of arteries,
• veins, and
• capillaries); blood fluid containing red blood cells with
hemoglobin and white blood cells.

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 Cont…

• Complete digestive system ventral to the spinal column and provided

with large digestive glands, liver, and pancreas.
• all, usually very well developed (organ system level of complexity)
• A cartilaginous or bony endoskeleton present in the majority of
members (vertebrates)
• Integument - body covering of epidermis, which is the outer,
layered epithelium derived from the ectoderm
• Well-developed coelom (body cavity) mostly filled with the internal
organs and lined by the peritoneum.

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 Cont.
• Excretory system consisting of paired kidneys.

• Brain typically divided into five regions.

• 10/12 pairs of cranial nerves with, usually, both motor and
sensory functions;
• an autonomic nervous system in control of involuntary
functions of internal organs.
• Endocrine system of ductless glands scattered throughout
the body.
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Usually separate sexes; each containing paired gonads. 17
• Chordate evolution is marked by physical and
behavioral specializations.
• For example the forelimb of mammals has a wide
range of structural variation, specialized by natural
selection.
• Evolutionary innovations and specializations led to
adaptive radiations - the development of a variety of
forms from a single ancestral group.

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• Phylum chordata –belongs to the Deuterostomia
branch of the animal kingdom which includes the
phylum Echinodermata and Hemichordata.

• These three phyla share many embryological features

and are probably descended from an ancient common
ancestor.

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1 the endoskeleton of vertebrates permet continous
growth without molting and attainment of large body
size.
2. paired appendages that appeared in aquatic
vertebrates were successfully adopted later as jointed
limbs for efficient locomotion on land or as wings for
flight.

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• All chordates evolved from an ancestor that had a flexible
rod (called a notochord) along the dorsal (back) side to
provide support for the skeleton and muscles.
• They include about 45000 species including many animals
of major economic importance.
• Phylum Chordata includes the most highly evolved
animals, the vertebrates, as well as the marine
invertebrate cephalochordate, amphioxus and tunicates.

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• All chordates share a common internal body plan.

These were:

• Notochord /backbone/vertebrae
• a dorsal nerve cord;

• a digestive tract -that extends from the mouth to anus;

• a muscular tail -that extends beyond the anus and

• the heart -that pumps blood through the body and to the gills (or
lungs).
• Indeed, all vertebrates contain a tail and gill slits at some stage of
development.
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 Common characteristics/features
• 1. Notochord (Flexible rod; skeletal support)
• 2. Dorsal, hollow nerve cord (Brain / spinal column)

• 3. Pharyngeal slits (openings in throat; water passage)

• 4. Muscular, post-anal tail (Balance / propulsion)

all these present at some stage of life cycle.

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 1. Notochord or Chorda dorsalis

• It is a rod like, elongated, flexible structure extending

the length of the body derived from mesoderm
• First part of endoskeleton to appear in the embryo
• Place for muscle attachment
• Located beneath the nerve cord and just above the
digestive canal
• It is composed of large vacuolated notochordal cells
containing a gelatinous matrix and surrounded by an
outer fibrous and an inner elastic sheath
• Vacuole of the cells are filled with a fluid and become
turgid (inner pressure) so as to form a stiff support

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 1) The Notochord /backbone/vertebrae

• The notochord is mainly composed of fibrous connective

tissue.
• For those animals in which it persists into the adult form, the
notochord provides support (it acts like our backbone) and
increases swimming efficiency.
• This feature also allowed organisms to grow larger and
provided attachment sites for muscles.
• Remains throughout the life history of most invertebrate
chordates; whereas, present only in the embryos of vertebrate
chordates.
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 The Notochord /backbone/vertebrae
• In animals like ourselves, bony structures called
vertebrae develop near the notochord and eventually
replace it during embryogenesis.
• Vertebrae evolved to enclose the spinal cord – this added
protection to the spinal cord and provided an attachment
site for muscles - allowing for more powerful movements.

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 2. Dorsal Tubular Nerve Cord
• The central nervous system present dorsal to the
alimentary canal
• It is a longitudinal hollow or tubular nerve cord lying just
above the notochord
• Anterior region of the nerve cord are specialized to form a
cerebral vesicle or brain and posterior part becomes spinal
cord.
• It is produced by the in-folding of ecto-dermal cells that
are in contact with the mesoderm in the embryo
• It serves for the integration and co-ordination of the body
activity

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 3. Pharyngeal Gill Slits
• Series of paired lateral gill clefts or gill slits present
through the pharyngeal wall of the gut behind mouth
• They serve primarily for the passage of water from the
pharynx to outside, which help for respiration and filter
feeding by retaining food particles in the pharynx
• Later, they were modified into internal gills used for
respiration

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 2) Pharyngeal Gill Slits
Pharyngeal gill slits are:
• Pairs of opening through the pharynx.
• Invertebrate chordates use them as suspension-
feeding devices to filter food.
• Juvenile fishes use them to for breathing.
• In adult fishes the gill sits develop into true gills.
• In reptiles, birds, and mammals the gill slits are
vestiges, occurring only in the embryo.
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• Slits have been modified in more evolved
vertebrates for:
              - Gas exchange
  - Hearing
              - Jaw support

• The gills are also thought to be the structures from which

jaws evolved, a feature that is possessed by nearly all of the so
called advanced vertebrates.

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 Cont…

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 4. Postanal Tail
 The post anal tail, along with somatic musculature and the
stiffening notochord
• Provides motility in larval tunicates and amphioxus
• This is evolved for propulsion in water and reduced to coccyx (tail
bone) in humans

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 Cont…

• Post anal tail, usually projecting beyond the anus at

some stage but may/not persist
• Segmented muscle in unsegmented trunk;
• highly-developed muscle system attached to the
skeleton to provide support and movement.

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 3) The Postanal Tail
• In all the non chordate phyla, the anus was terminal (at
the tip of the tail).
• Chordates, on the other hand, follow the anus with a tail
of variable length (again, an adaptation for locomotion
both for balance and for propulsion).
• 4) Hollow Dorsal Nerve Cord
• Our nerve cord, like that of other chordates is hollow
(even in the adult).
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Compared to the Invertebrates, the Chordates are:
– Smarter
– Larger
– More coordinated
– Faster

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 Cont….

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 Classification of Chordates

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 1-group acraniata (Protochordata)

• They are the simple or first chordates in which brain box

(cranium) is absent and hence brain is not prominent.
• Notochord does not transform into vertebral column.

Group acraniata is divided into two sub phylum:

• Sub-phylum - Urochordata (notochord in the tail)

• Sub-phylum - Cephalochordata (notochord from head to tail)

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Phylum Chordata is divided into 3 subphylum:

1. Urochordata
2. Cephalochordata
3. Vertebrata

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 Chordates also classified as

• Protochordata/acrania/
• which lack cranium and vertebral column.
• Protochordates include the urochordates (G: tail
string) and
• cephalochordates (G: head string).
• The urochordates and cephalochordates lumped
into the phylum chordata because of the shared
characters
• they have with vertebrates and
• it was believed that all the three subphyla
mentioned above share a common ancestor.
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 1. Urochordates

Are divided into three classes:

 Ascidiacea (sea squirts)
 Larvaciea (appendicularia in some classifications)
&Thaliaciea(thaliaceans or slaps )
classes, 2 of which have larvae with the chordate characteristics.
The remaining characteristic, the pharynx with pharyngeal gill slits,
allows the adults to filter feed. Are first vertebrates, and many extant
ones, are filter feeders.

The larvae of urochordates don't feed and the notochord is in the tail.
E.g. tunicates and sea squirts
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 Ascidiacea (sea squirts)-solitary, colonial or
compound.
• An odd feature found in no other chordates is the
heart derives the blood first in one direction for a
few beats, then pauses, reverses its
direction, and drives the blood in the
opposite direction for a few beats.

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 An other remarkable feature is the presence of
strikingly high amounts of rear elements in the blood,
such as vanadium and niobium.
 The vanadium conc.
In the sea squirt may reach 2 million times its conc in sea
water.
The function of these rear metals in the blood is mystery

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 Larviacea (appendicularia in some classifications) larva
like pelagic creatures shaped like a bent tadpole.
 Thaliacea (thaliaceans or slaps ) are barrel- or lemon-
shaped pelagic forms with transparent gelatinous
bodies.
 from these members, ascidiacea are by far the most
common, diverse and best known.
 They are often called sea squirts.

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• Urochordata means "tail-cord").

• Urochordates are also called tunicates

because their body is enclosed in a sac called
tunic or test composed largely of tunicine,
similar to cellulose.
• About 2000 different species,
• all are marine and all are filter feeders.

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 Urochordates
• Adult tunicates look like small sacs (about 3 cm tall) and are
stationary, lacking a nerve cord, a notochord, and a post-anal tail.
• Have only the two chief characteristics:
 Pharyngeal slits, and
 endostyle

• Lacking three of the four distinguishing hallmarks of the chordates, it

would seem impossible for these animals to be placed in phylum
Chordata.
• Undergo a dramatic metamorphosis (e.g., tail, notochord, muscle
segments, and nerve cord disappear)
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• However, tunicates begin life in a larval state, which have a
post-anal tail, a nerve cord, and a notochord.
• Therefore, these immobile animals with tadpole-like larvae
are considered chordates.

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• The body of an adult tunicate is quite simple, being
essentially a sack with large gill structures that form two
siphons through which water enters and exits.
• Water is filtered inside the sack-shaped body.
• Urochordates have a notochord that extends just from
behind the tail to the head (rather than from the head to
the head)

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Tunicates (sea squirts)
– Larva has all chordate characteristics

 Ventral heart with a large vessel on each side.

 Heart pumps blood through one vessel-,stops, then pumps blood

through the other vessel.

 Water pumped through the body by muscular contraction.

– Endostyle present- Mucus secreting ciliated grooves in the floor

of pharynx of tunicates, cephalochordates and jawless fishes

uses for accumulating and moving food particles to the stomach.

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• The Chordate characteristics are only present during

the larval stage of development when it is free

swimming and looks similar to a small tadpole.

• Tunic encloses a basket-like pharynx, that is

perforated by gill slits.

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• The nervous system is restricted to a nerve ganglion and

plexus of nerves that lie on the dorsal side of the pharynx.

• Beneath the nerve ganglion is located the subneural gland,

connected by a duct to the pharynx.

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 Reproduction and Development
• Monoecious.

• Self fertilization and cross fertilization.

• Sea squirts are hermaphroditic, with usually a single
ovary and a single tests in the same animal.
• Germ cells are carried by ducts into the atrial cavity, and
then into the surrounding water where fertilization occurs

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2. Subphylum Cephalochordata

• The word Cephalochordata means

“chordate with a head”

• The Cephalochordata is an intermediate between the more
primitive Urochordata and the more advanced Vertebrata.

• Unlike the urochordates, the notochord extends along the

entire length of their body.

• This structure imparts rigidity to their body and permits

more coordinated swimming movements.

• They maintain their notochord throughout their entire life.

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 cephalochordates
• The cephalochordates resemble some of the larval
fishes much more than the urochodates do.
• They have small muscle segments, myomeres that
show metamerism as do many muscles in fish.
• They are filter feeders.
• The gill slits are housed inside of a chamber called the
atrium and the notochord is in the head.
• E.g. the lancelets and sea lancelet or amphioxus
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 Chordate /craniata/
• possess a cranium and vertebral column (vertebrates).
• Craniata have bony or cartilaginous vertebrae surrounding
spinal cord;
• notochord in all embryonic stages,
• persisting in some of the fish.
• They may be divided into two groups (super classes) according
to presence/absence of jaws as
• Super class Agnatha (without jaw)
• hagfishes and lampreys; have 1 or 2 semicircular canals and
lack jointed, paired lateral appendages.
• Super class Gnathostomata (jaw mouth)
• jawed fishes and all tetrapods;
• have 3 semicircular canals and jointed, paired lateral
appendages.
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 Possible invertebrate ancestors of chordates

• Fossils are scant and living invertebrates are highly

derived.
• Not directly converted from its modern form into a
chordate with out drastic reorganization,
• winvertebrates are immediate ancestor to chordates.
• Most biologists realize that the actual ancestors to
chordates are long extinct.
• in 19th C view traces chordate origins back to annelids
and arthropods.
• The fact that vertebrates and echinoderm invertebrates
both follow a deuterostome pattern of embryo
development.
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 Cephalochordates from Annelids and Arthropods

• 1. Geoffroy saint-Hillaire, French zoologist, was

propose that chordate body plan was derived from a
flipped over version of an arthropod.
• 2. George Cuvier opposed this theory by list of
differences that surpassed/exceeded the similarities
and emporarily quieted the issue for most scientists.
• Latter in early 20th C Gaskell, W.H. and William, P.
revived the issue and presented a closely argued case
in support of the annelid and/or arthropod ancestry
for chordates.

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 Share Charactere

• Annelids and arthropods share with chordates

• All three groups are segmented
• Bilateral symmetry
• All exhibit similarities in gross brain regionalization,
with forebrain & hindbrain.
• The basic chordate body plan is present in annelids
and arthropods, although upside down.

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 Cont…
annelids and arthropods,
• The nerve cord occupies a ventral position below the
gut along with major blood vessels.
• If an annelid or arthropod is flipped over, nerve cord
into a dorsal position, along with the major blood
vessel, which becomes the dorsal aorta.
• In this reversed position, the inverted annelid or
arthropod body becomes the fundamental chordate
body.
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 major weaknesses.

1. similarities are analogy not homology (product of descent from

common enactor rather than the product of similar environment).
2. The segmentation and jointed appendages that are part of an
arthropod exoskeleton are quite unlike the chordate myotomal
segmentation.
3. The main nerve cord of annelids and arthropods is solid, ventral,
not hollow and dorsal as in chordates and develop in different
way.
4. The usual position for a chordates mouth and anus are ventral,
whereas an annelid or arthropod rolled on its back.
5. The embryonic history of chordates different in method of
ceolom formation.
6. The body axis is also different.
• Collectively, these difficulties encourage alternative proposals that
chordates evolve from echinoderms.
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 Cephalochordates from Echinoderms

• unusual organization, echinoderms afford the best clue to chordate

ancestry.
• The bipinnaria larva of echinoderms and the tornaria larva of
hemichordates, are similarity in the mesoderm formation &
somewhere phylogenetically.
• Echinoderms, like chordates are deuterostomes.
• Garstang, W. reasoned that because of their embryonic affinities,
echinoderms or a group very similar to echinoderms like chordate
ancestors.
• Since the adult echinoderm offer little to suggest a phylogenetic
affinity with chordates, Garstang cleverly looked beyond the adult to
the echinoderm larvae as the phylogenetic source of the basic
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• They also keep their nerve chord which does not become
the spinal chord.

• Approximately 200 species of Cephalochordates.

• All live in sand or shallow water environments.

• The Amphioxus or lancelet is a good example of
subphylum Cephalochordata.
• Adults possess all chordate features throughout life.

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• Although they are capable of swimming, they usually are
buried in the sand with only their anterior end being
exposed.

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Subphylum Cephalochordata
Branchiostoma -the lancelets or Amphioxus(= both ends
sharp)
 Endostyle present.

 Has segmented myomeres, and many homologies with

vertebrates.
 On the other hand, cephalochordates lack features
found in most or all true vertebrates, small brain and
poorly developed sense organs and no true vertebrae
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 Cephalochordate
 Digestive tract is complete.

 Pharynx is large perforated by numerous gill slits.

 They are filter feeder.
 Water enters the mouth and derives by cilia in the bucal
cavity, then passes through numerous pharyngeal slits
where food is trapped in mucus, which is then moved by
cilia into intestine.

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 Here the smallest food particle are separated from the mucus and
passed into the hepatic cecum where they are phagocitized and
digested intracellularly.
 As in tunicates, filter water passes first into an atrium, then leaves
the body by atriophore (equivalent to the excurrent siphon of
tunicates.)
 A pouch or hepatic cecum secretes digestive enzymes, and actual
digestion takes place in a specialized part of the intestine known as
the iliocolonic ring.
 No other chordate shows the basic diagnostic chordate
characteristics as clearly as amphioxus.

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 Also possesses several features that suggest the vertebrate
plan.
 hepatic cecum , a diverticulum that resembles the
vertebrate pancreases in secreting digestive enzymes.
 segmented musculature, and

 Basic circulatory plan of more advanced chordates

 Therefore, cephalochordates, in cladistic term, the sister

group of vertebrates.

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Cephalochordates
• Respiration: Respiration through the general body
surface.
• No special organ for respiration.
• Circulatory system: Cephalochordates also have a
well-developed circulatory system.
• Excretory system: Simple excretory system composed
of paired nephridia.

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Cephalochordates

• Reproduction is sexual.

• The sexes are separate, and both males and

females have multiple paired gonads.
• Eggs are fertilized externally, and develop
into free-swimming, fishlike larvae.

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 Cont…

• No asexual reproduction.

• Development is indirect.
• Lancelets are common bottom-dwelling forms
that possess all four chordate characteristics.
• They dig into the sand and lie with their anterior
end protruding from the burrow.

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 Amphioxus
5 – 6 inches in length
Amphioxus
Brain located in the front – eel-like.
Filter feeder

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• They maintain their notochord throughout their entire life.
• They also keep their nerve chord which does not become
the spinal chord.
• Also a filter feeder – considered a primitive trait because
gill slits used for respiration as well as feeding.
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 Phylogenetic
tree of
chordates

Suggesting
probable origin
and
relationships

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Geolo
gic
Time
Table

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 Evolution of Chordates
CEPHALOCHORDATES
HEMICHORDATES
• tubular structure in place of
notochord
• dorsal nerve chord
• ventral blood vessel UROCHORDATES

• pharynx w multiple openings

Today include “acorn worms” And
HEMICHORDATES
Pterobranchs.

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 Fossil Record
• Fossil record: A term used by the Paleontologist to
refer to the total number of fossils that have been
discovered, as well as to the information derived from
them.
• Fossil: Any remains, impression or trace of a living
thing of a former geologic age, as a skeleton,
footprint etc.,

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Fossil record provides
• Some information about extinct species
• Clues on how and when new groups of
organisms evolved
• Information to study the evolutionary
relationship, changes and reconstruction of
phylogenetic tree

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 Group Assignment- 1(15pts)
Group-1
Fates of Dinosaur
What Happened to the Dinosaurs?
1. Explore some Dinosaurs Extinction Theories( not less
than five) in detail and the evidences which support
these theories.
Group-2
2. Write brief notes and explain the geological time table
and accompying events in vertebrate evolution.
The End
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