Exam 34: The Origin and Evolution of Vertebrates

In the United States and Canada, bats use one of two strategies to survive winter: They either migrate south, or they hibernate. Recently, those that hibernate seem to have come under attack by a fungus, Geomyces destructans (Gd), an attack that is occurring from Missouri to southern Canada. Many infected bats have a delicate, white filamentous mat on their muzzles, which is referred to as white-nose syndrome (WNS). The fungus invades the bat tissues, causes discomfort, and awakens the bat from its hibernation. The bat fidgets and wastes calories, using up its stored fat. The bat then behaves abnormally, leaving its cave during daytime in winter to search for food. Their food, primarily insects, is scarce during the winter, and the bats ultimately starve to death. Since 2007, it is estimated that up to 1 million bats have perished from WNS. -Gd is a cold-loving fungus. Thus, which characteristics of normal bat behavior can be most expected to favor the growth of this fungus?

The swim bladder of ray-finned fishes

At least one of these has been found in all species of eumetazoan animals studied thus far.

Which of the following is the most inclusive (most general)group, all of whose members have foramina magna centrally positioned in the base of the cranium?

Regarding its position in the water column, the same thing that happens to a shark when it stops swimming also happens to a

Which of these species was apparently the first to craft stone tools?

If a physoclistus fish removes gas from its swim bladder, this fish's density cannot actually change until that gas arrives at the

Which of the following are the only extant animals that descended directly from dinosaurs?

The following questions refer to the description below. Terry catches a ray-finned fish from the ocean and notices that attached to its flank is an equally long, snakelike organism. The attached organism has no external segmentation, no scales, a round mouth surrounded by a sucker, and two small eyes. Terry thinks it might be a marine leech, a hagfish, or a lamprey. -Terry takes the body of the snakelike organism and slices it open along its dorsal side. If it is a hagfish, what should Terry see?

Which of the following are the most abundant and diverse of the extant vertebrates?

The oldest fossil remains of Homo sapiens found so far date from about

In order for the four-chambered hearts of birds and mammals to be homologous, which other organisms would have to have had four-chambered hearts?

Figure 34.1 Fishes that have swim bladders can regulate their density and, thus, their buoyancy. There are two types of swim bladder: physostomus and physoclistus. The ancestral version is the physostomus version, in which the swim bladder is connected to the esophagus via a short tube (Figure 34.1). The fish fills this version by swimming to the surface, taking gulps of air, and directing them into the swim bladder. Air is removed from this version by "belching." The physoclistus version is more derived, and has lost its connection to the esophagus. Instead, gas enters and leaves the swim bladder via special circulatory mechanisms within the wall of the swim bladder. -The presence of a swim bladder allows the typical ray-finned fish to stop swimming and still

Arrange the following taxonomic terms from most inclusive (most general)to least inclusive (most specific). 1)apes 2)hominins 3)Homo 4 anthropoids 5)primates

Which of the following are considered apes?

The feeding mode of the extinct conodonts was

A new species of aquatic chordate is discovered that closely resembles an ancient form. It has the following characteristics: external armor of bony plates, no paired lateral fins, and a suspension-feeding mode of nutrition. In addition to these, it will probably have which of the following characteristics?

Some bird bones are hollow rather than honeycombed. The hollow bones mostly contain air sacs. The replacement of bone marrow with air sacs is properly understood as an adaptation to

Which graph properly depicts the relationship between the amount of gas in the swim bladder and the density of the fish?

With which of the following statements would a biologist be most inclined to agree?