Order Afrosoricida: Tenrecs and Golden Moles

Slide 1 Superorder AFROTHERIA

Order Afrosoricida: tenrecs and golden moles

Order Macroscelidea: elephant shrews

Order Tubulidentata: aardvark

Order Hyracoidea: hyraxes, dassies

Order Proboscidea: elephants

Order Sirenia: dugong and manatees

Slide 2 African origin

Slide 3 Order MACROSCLELIDEA elephant shrews

Slide 4 Family MACROSCELIDAE

A. Ethiopian, North Africa

B. long hind limbs, can move bipedally

C. snout long, slender, movable at base

D. insectivorous

E. mouse (50 g) to squirrel-sized (200)

Slide 5 Order TUBULIDENTATA

A. Family ORYCTEROPODIDAE

Ethiopian
monotypic [Orycteropus afer]
aardvark (Afrikaans for "earth-pig")

Slide 6 Orycteropidae

A. Characters

1. no incisors or canines

2. cheek teeth homodont, columnar, consisting of vertical hexagonal prisms of dentine [no enamel] surrounding pulp tubules

Slide 7. Orycteropidae

A. Most massive of termite eaters.

B. Long protrusible, sticky tongue.

C. Diggers, excavate burrows 2-3 m.

D. Highly developed sense of smell

E. Low metabolic rate (Tbody: 34.5°C).

Slide 8. Orycteropidae

A. Possible symbiotic relationship with ground

pumpkin (Cucumis humifructus)

Slide 9. Convergent evolution in anteaters

Slide 10. What do manatees, elephants, and hyraxes have in common?

A. No clavicle

B. No baculum

C. Abdominal testes

D. Short nails on digits

E. Incisors modified as tusks

Slide 11. Order HYRACOIDEA--hyraxes, conies

Slide 12. Family PROCAVIIDAE [Fig. 14-9]

A. Ethiopian, North Africa and Middle East

Slide 13. Hyrax skull

A. rodent-like incisors

Slide 14. Hyrax characters

A. soles of feet with elastic pads

B. arboreal hyraxes

C. terrestrial hyraxes

D. mesaxonic feet (like perissodactyls)

Slide 15. Order SIRENIA Dugongs and Manatees

Slide 16. Sirenia Characteristics

A. Strictly aquatic

B. Herbivores.

C. Low metabolic rates

D. underdeveloped brain.

Slide 17. Sirenia Characteristics

E. Body large, massive, fusiform.

F. Forelimb paddle-like.

G. Pelvis vestigial, no hind limb.

H. Tail modified into fluke.

I. Skeleton dense (pachyostotic) in trichechids.

J. Lungs extend nearly length of body

Slide 18. Sirenia Characteristics

K. Nearly hairless

L. External nares high on skull; valvular nostrils.

Slide 19. Horizontal tooth replacement in Sirenia

Slide 20. Distribution

A. Trichechids: coastal Atlantic and large rivers

B. Dugongids: coasts of Indian and western Pacific Oceans

Slide 21. Family TRICHECHIDAE- manatees

A. 3-4 m, typically

B. 150-360 kg, up to 1600 kg

C. Fluke is rounded, spatulate

D. Feed on sea grasses

E. Tooth replacement from rear, up to 30 teeth

F. Endangered in Florida

Slide 22. Characteristics of Endangered Species

A. Adapted to stable, undisturbed communities

B. Low natality and low natural mortality

C. Specialized requirements

D. Restricted distribution

Slide 23. Natural History of Manatees

A. Range

B. Habitat

C. Feeding

D. Reproduction

E. High mortality rate

F. Low population abundance

Slide 24. The main cause of accidental mortality

Slide 25. Family DUGONGIDAE

A. fluke is notched (whale-like)

B. rostrum is strongly deflected

C. slender neural spines and ribs

D. feed on less abrasive sea grasses

Slide 26. Steller’s Sea Cow

Slide 27. Order PROBOSCIDEA

A. Family ELEPHANTIDAE

Largest land mammals
2 extant genera
3 extant species

Slide 28. Five extinct families

Slide 29 ELEPHANTIDAE

A. Long probosicis present with nostrils and finger-like projection at tip.

B. pinnae large, fan like.

Slide 30. ELEPHANTIDAE

C. Upper incisor evergrowing, tusk-like

Poaching

D. Pneumatic skull

Slide 31. Tooth replacement

A. Lophodont cheek teeth

B. consecutively replaced from rear (only one cheek tooth in each quadrant functional at a time in adults)

Slide 32. GRAVIPORTAL

A. Heavy bodied stance and movement

Slide 33. ELEPHANTIDAE

A. Matriarchal.

Complex social systems

B. Musth.

C. Infrasound.

Slide 34. ELEPHANTIDAE

D. Sexual maturity in females at 9-12 years; Peak fecundity 25-45 years.

E. Eat up to 150 kg/day of grasses and herbs in wet season, bark, shrubs, and leaves in dry.