14.4 – Reptiles

Characteristics of Amniotes

The amniotic egg is the key characteristic of amniotes. In amniotes that lay eggs, the shell of the egg provides protection for the developing embryo while being permeable enough to allow for the exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen. The albumin, or egg white, outside of the chorion provides the embryo with water and protein, whereas the fattier egg yolk contained in the yolk sac provides nutrients for the embryo, as is the case with the eggs of many other animals, such as amphibians. Here are the functions of the extraembryonic membranes:

1. Blood vessels in the yolk sac transport yolk nutrients to the circulatory system of the embryo.
2. The chorion facilitates exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the embryo and the egg’s external environment.
3. The allantois stores nitrogenous wastes produced by the embryo and also facilitates respiration.
4. The amnion protects the embryo from mechanical shock and supports hydration.

In mammals, the yolk sac is very reduced, but the embryo is still cushioned and enclosed within the amnion. The placenta, which transports nutrients and functions in gas exchange and waste management, is derived from the chorion and allantois.

Evolution of Amniotes

The first amniotes evolved from tetrapod ancestors approximately 340 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. The early amniotes quickly diverged into two main lines: synapsids and sauropsids. Synapsids included the therapsids, a clade from which mammals evolved. Sauropsids were further divided into anapsids and diapsids. Diapsids gave rise to the reptiles, including the dinosaurs and birds. The key differences between the synapsids, anapsids, and diapsids are the structures of the skull and the number of temporal fenestrae (“windows”) behind each eye ((Figure)). Temporal fenestrae are post-orbital openings in the skull that allow muscles to expand and lengthen. Anapsids have no temporal fenestrae, synapsids have one (fused ancestrally from two fenestrae), and diapsids have two (although many diapsids such as birds have highly modified diapsid skulls). Anapsids include extinct organisms and traditionally included turtles. However, more recent molecular and fossil evidence clearly shows that turtles arose within the diapsid line and secondarily lost the temporal fenestrae; thus they appear to be anapsids because modern turtles do not have fenestrae in the temporal bones of the skull. The canonical diapsids include dinosaurs, birds, and all other extinct and living reptiles.

The diapsids in turn diverged into two groups, the Archosauromorpha (“ancient lizard form”) and the Lepidosauromorpha (“scaly lizard form”) during the Mesozoic period ((Figure)). The lepidosaurs include modern lizards, snakes, and tuataras. The archosaurs include modern crocodiles and alligators, and the extinct ichthyosaurs (“fish lizards” superficially resembling dolphins), pterosaurs (“winged lizard”), dinosaurs (“terrible lizard”), and birds. (We should note that clade Dinosauria includes birds, which evolved from a branch of maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs in the Mesozoic.)

The evolutionarily derived characteristics of amniotes include the amniotic egg and its four extraembryonic membranes, a thicker and more waterproof skin, and rib ventilation of the lungs (ventilation is performed by drawing air into and out of the lungs by muscles such as the costal rib muscles and the diaphragm).

Characteristics of Reptiles

Reptiles are tetrapods. Limbless reptiles—snakes and legless lizards—are classified as tetrapods because they are descended from four-limbed ancestors. Reptiles lay calcareous or leathery eggs enclosed in shells on land. Even aquatic reptiles return to the land to lay eggs. They usually reproduce sexually with internal fertilization. Some species display ovoviviparity, with the eggs remaining in the mother’s body until they are ready to hatch. In ovoviviparous reptiles, most nutrients are supplied by the egg yolk, while the chorioallantois assists with respiration. Other species are viviparous, with the offspring born alive, with their development supported by a yolk sac-placenta, a chorioallantoic-placenta, or both.

One of the key adaptations that permitted reptiles to live on land was the development of their scaly skin, containing the protein keratin and waxy lipids, which reduced water loss from the skin. A number of keratinous epidermal structures have emerged in the descendants of various reptilian lineages and some have become defining characters for these lineages: scales, claws, nails, horns, feathers, and hair. Their occlusive skin means that reptiles cannot use their skin for respiration, like amphibians, and thus all amniotes breathe with lungs. All reptiles grow throughout their lives and regularly shed their skin, both to accommodate their growth and to rid themselves of ectoparasites. Snakes tend to shed the entire skin at one time, but other reptiles shed their skins in patches.

Reptiles ventilate their lungs using various muscular mechanisms to produce negative pressure (low pressure) within the lungs that allows them to expand and draw in air. In snakes and lizards, the muscles of the spine and ribs are used to expand or contract the rib cage. Since walking or running interferes with this activity, the squamates cannot breathe effectively while running. Some squamates can supplement rib movement with buccal pumping through the nose, with the mouth closed. In crocodilians, the lung chamber is expanded and contracted by moving the liver, which is attached to the pelvis. Turtles have a special problem with breathing, because their rib cage cannot expand. However, they can change the pressure around the lungs by pulling their limbs in and out of the shell, and by moving their internal organs. Some turtles also have a posterior respiratory sac that opens off the hindgut that aids in the diffusion of gases.

Most reptiles are ectotherms, animals whose main source of body heat comes from the environment; however, some crocodilians maintain elevated thoracic temperatures and thus appear to be at least regional endotherms. This is in contrast to true endotherms, which use heat produced by metabolism and muscle contraction to regulate body temperature over a very narrow temperature range, and thus are properly referred to as homeotherms. Reptiles have behavioral adaptations to help regulate body temperature, such as basking in sunny places to warm up through the absorption of solar radiation, or finding shady spots or going underground to minimize the absorption of solar radiation, which allows them to cool down and prevent overheating. The advantage of ectothermy is that metabolic energy from food is not required to heat the body; therefore, reptiles can survive on about 10 percent of the calories required by a similarly sized endotherm. In cold weather, some reptiles such as the garter snake brumate. Brumation is similar to hibernation in that the animal becomes less active and can go for long periods without eating, but differs from hibernation in that brumating reptiles are not asleep or living off fat reserves. Rather, their metabolism is slowed in response to cold temperatures, and the animal is very sluggish.

Evolution of Reptiles

Reptiles originated approximately 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. One of the oldest known amniotes is Casineria, which had both amphibian and reptilian characteristics. One of the earliest undisputed reptile fossils was Hylonomus, a lizardlike animal about 20 cm long. Soon after the first amniotes appeared, they diverged into three groups—synapsids, anapsids, and diapsids—during the Permian period. The Permian period also saw a second major divergence of diapsid reptiles into stem archosaurs (predecessors of thecodonts, crocodilians, dinosaurs, and birds) and lepidosaurs (predecessors of snakes and lizards). These groups remained inconspicuous until the Triassic period, when the archosaurs became the dominant terrestrial group possibly due to the extinction of large-bodied anapsids and synapsids during the Permian-Triassic extinction. About 250 million years ago, archosaurs radiated into the pterosaurs and both saurischian “lizard hip” and ornithischian “bird-hip” dinosaurs (see below).

Although they are sometimes mistakenly called dinosaurs, the pterosaurs were distinct from true dinosaurs ((Figure)). Pterosaurs had a number of adaptations that allowed for flight, including hollow bones (birds also exhibit hollow bones, a case of convergent evolution). Their wings were formed by membranes of skin that attached to the long, fourth finger of each arm and extended along the body to the legs.

Archosaurs: Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs (“fearfully-great lizard”) include the Saurischia (“lizard-hipped”) with a simple, three-pronged pelvis, and Ornithischia (“bird-hipped”) dinosaurs with a more complex pelvis, superficially similar to that of birds. However, it is a fact that birds evolved from the saurischian “lizard hipped” lineage, not the ornithischian “bird hip” lineage. Dinosaurs and their theropod descendants, the birds, are remnants of what was formerly a hugely diverse group of reptiles, some of which like Argentinosaurus were nearly 40 meters (130 feet) in length and weighed at least 80,000 kg (88 tons). They were the largest land animals to have lived, challenging and perhaps exceeding the great blue whale in size, but probably not weight—which could be greater than 200 tons.

Herrerasaurus, a bipedal dinosaur from Argentina, was one of the earliest dinosaurs that walked upright with the legs positioned directly below the pelvis, rather than splayed outward to the sides as in the crocodilians. The Ornithischia were all herbivores, and sometimes evolved into crazy shapes, such as ankylosaur “armored tanks” and horned dinosaurs such as Triceratops. Some, such as Parasaurolophus, lived in great herds and may have amplified their species-specific calls through elaborate crests on their heads.

Both the ornithischian and saurischian dinosaurs provided parental care for their broods, just as crocodilians and birds do today. The end of the age of dinosaurs came about 65 million years ago, during the Mesozoic, coinciding with the impact of a large asteroid (that produced the Chicxulub crater) in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Besides the immediate environmental disasters associated with this asteroid impacting the Earth at about 45,000 miles per hour, the impact may also have helped generate an enormous series of volcanic eruptions that changed the distribution and abundance of plant life worldwide, as well as its climate. At the end of the Triassic, massive volcanic activity across North America, South America, Africa, and southwest Europe ultimately would lead to the break-up of Pangea and the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The formerly incredibly diverse dinosaurs (save for the evolving birds) met their extinction during this time period.

Archosaurs: Pterosaurs

More than 200 species of pterosaurs have been described, and in their day, beginning about 230 million years ago, they were the undisputed rulers of the Mesozoic skies for over 170 million years. Recent fossils suggest that hundreds of pterosaur species may have lived during any given period, dividing up the environment much like birds do today. Pterosaurs came in amazing sizes and shapes, ranging in size from that of a small song bird to that of the enormous Quetzalcoatlus northropi, which stood nearly 6 meters (19 feet) high and had a wingspan of nearly 14 meters (40 feet). This monstrous pterosaur, named after the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the feathered flying serpent that contributed largely to the creation of humankind, may have been the largest flying animal that ever evolved!

Some male pterosaurs apparently had brightly colored crests that may have served in sexual displays; some of these crests were much higher than the actual head! Pterosaurs had ultralight skeletons, with a pteroid bone, unique to pterosaurs, that strengthened the forewing membrane. Much of their wing span was exaggerated by a greatly elongated fourth finger that supported perhaps half of the wing. It is tempting to relate to them in terms of bird characteristics, but in reality, their proportions were decidedly not like birds at all. For example, it is common to find specimens, such as Quetzalcoatlus, with a head and neck region that together was three to four times as large as the torso. In addition, unlike the feathered bird wing, the reptilian wing had a layer of muscles, connective tissue, and blood vessels, all reinforced with a webbing of fibrous cords.

In contrast to the aerial pterosaurs, the dinosaurs were a diverse group of terrestrial reptiles with more than 1,000 species classified to date. Paleontologists continue to discover new species of dinosaurs. Some dinosaurs were quadrupeds ((Figure)); others were bipeds. Some were carnivorous, whereas others were herbivorous. Dinosaurs laid eggs, and a number of nests containing fossilized eggs, with intact embryos, have been found. It is not known with certainty whether dinosaurs were homeotherms or facultative endotherms. However, given that modern birds are endothermic, the dinosaurs that were the immediate ancestors to birds likely were endothermic as well. Some fossil evidence exists for dinosaurian parental care, and comparative biology supports this hypothesis since the archosaur birds and crocodilians both display extensive parental care.

Dinosaurs dominated the Mesozoic era, which was known as the “Age of Reptiles.” The dominance of dinosaurs lasted until the end of the Cretaceous, the last period of the Mesozoic era. The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction resulted in the loss of most of the large-bodied animals of the Mesozoic era. Birds are the only living descendants of one of the major clades of theropod dinosaurs.

Modern Reptiles

Class Reptilia includes many diverse species that are classified into four living clades. There are the 25 species of Crocodilia, two species of Sphenodontia, approximately 9,200 Squamata species, and about 325 species of Testudines.