Natural History of Vertebrates
List of Terms
Chapter 1 - The Diversity, Classification, and Evolution of Vertebrates

The following are terms that you should look up. You should be able to define each term and give a clear, specific example of each. Most of these terms are in your textbook, some will be presented in lecture, and others may come from your previous course work. A good investment at this point in your career would be the investment in one or more dictionaries which are specific to biology. One dictionary that I would recommend is "A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics" (second edition) by Lincoln, Boxshall and Clark. It is published by Cambridge University Press and the ISBN number is 0 521 43842 for the paperback version.

Taxonomic terms maybe the scientific names or common names associated with various groups of organisms. Generic names are capitalized and in italics. Scientific names for families or higher are capitalized. Common names are in start with lower case letters.

I will use these terms in lecture at various times throughout the semester and will expect you to know them. They may also appear on tests. It would be a very good idea to include a section in your notes where you write out the definitions to these terms.

List of Terms		Taxonomic Terms
phylogeny evolution eon era period epoch continental drift epicontinental sea maritime climate continental climate binomial nomenclature taxon phenetics cladistics cladogram apomorphy synapomorphy plesiomorphy symplesiomorphy autapomorphy monophyletic paraphyletic polyphyletic sister taxon outgroup parsimonious homologous homoplastic convergence parrallelism		Myxinoidea Petromyzontoidea Chondrichthyes Actinopterygii Dipnoi Actinistia Amphibia Lissamphibia Testudinia Lepidosauria Crocodilia Aves Monotremata Marsupialia Eutheria(br> Mammalia

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Last updated on 15 January 2008
Provide comments to Dwight Moore at mooredwi@emporia.edu
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