Bird Vocab
Terms
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- Hallux
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A homologous digit of a bird, reptile, or amphibian. In birds, it is often directed backward.
Also:The innermost or first digit on the hind foot of certain mammals. The human hallux is commonly called the big toe.
Pl. Halluces - Avian foods (high Energy),Other foods, and unusual foods:
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High energy: insectivores, granivores, frugivores.
Others: carnivores, piscivores, scavengers, nectarivores, omnivores
Unusual foods: herbivores, specialists - Avian Bills reflect:
- foods and foraging methods.
- Lamellae, ex: a flamingo's bill
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lamella, pl lamellae filter the food.
Def: A thin scale, plate, or layer of bone or tissue, as in the gills of a bivalve mollusk or around the minute vascular canals in bone. - Morphological features that relate to a bird's ecological niche:
- Include size/shape/use of bill; wing shape-long and narrow vs short and broad; and legs and feet-length of legs, webbing, placement of legs and toes
- Crop
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A pouchlike enlargement of a bird's gullet in which food is partially digested or stored for regurgitation to nestlings. It is used for the preliminary maceration of food. (softens and makes ready for regurgitation)
Also called a craw. - Proventriculus
- The division of the stomach in birds that secretes digestive enzymes and passes food from the crop to the gizzard.
- Pylorus
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The passage at the lower end of the stomach that opens into the duodenum.
Or: A muscular or myovascular structure that opens or closes an orifice or lumen of an organ. - Gizzard
- A modified muscular pouch behind the stomach in the alimentary canal of birds, having a thick lining and often containing ingested grit that aids in the breakdown of seeds before digestion.
- Alimentary canal
- The mucous membrane-lined tube of the digestive system that extends from the mouth to the anus and through which food passes, digestion takes place, and wastes are eliminated; it includes the pharynx, esophagus, stomach, and intestines. Also called alimentary tract, digestive tract.
- Caudal
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1. Of, at, or near the tail or hind parts; posterior: the caudal fin of a fish.
2.Situated beneath or on the underside; inferior.
3.Similar to a tail in form or function. - Papilla
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1. A small nipplelike projection, such as a protuberance on the skin, at the root of a hair or feather, or at the base of a developing tooth.
2. One of the small, round or cone-shaped protuberances on the top of the tongue that contain taste buds.
3.A pimple or pustule. - Duodenum
- The beginning portion of the small intestine, starting at the lower end of the stomach and extending to the jejunum
- Jejunum*
- *the section of the small intestine that comprises the first two fifths beyond the duodenum and that is larger, thicker-walled, and more vascular and has more circular folds and fewer Peyer's patches than the ileum
- Ileum*
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*the last division of the small intestine that constitutes the part between the jejunum and large intestine and in humans forms the last three fifths of the part of the small intestine beyond the end of the duodenum and that is smaller and thinner-walled than the jejunum with fewer circular folds but more numerous Peyer's patches
The terminal portion of the small intestine extending from the jejunum to the cecum - Cecum*
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*1.A saclike cavity with only one opening.
2.Anatomy. The large blind pouch forming the beginning of the large intestine. Also called blind gut. - Sally
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1. To rush out or leap forth suddenly.
2. To issue suddenly from a defensive or besieged position to attack an enemy. A sortie - Glean
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1. To gather (grain) left behind by reapers.
2.To collect bit by bit - Optimal Foraging
- To maximize net energy intake by using the (most) energy content of food and (least) handling time
- Components of handling time:
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Locate
Pursue
Capture
Process (eat) - Optimal foraging models are qualitatively correct but not quantitatively correct because of:
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Sampling environment,
Nutrition,
Predation,
Importance of variance in food intake - When did archaeopteryx live?
- 145 million years ago, so before T. Rex, in the middle of the age of dinosaurs
- Furcula
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1.a forked bone formed by the fusion of the clavicles of most birds
Also: A forked part or bone, such as the wishbone of a bird. Also called fourchette
Also:an elevation on the embryonic floor of the pharynx from which the epiglottis develops - Name four specific avian features:
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feathers (asymetrical),
wing-like forelimb,
hallux,
furcula, - What is the classic theory of bird evolution?
- That birds evolved from thecodonts(Any of various extinct primitive archosaurs of the order Thecodontia of the late Permian and Triassic periods, having teeth in sockets and probably ancestral to the dinosaurs)
- According to the classic theory of bird evolution, birds' origin of flight was _____
- Arboreal. meaning they were inhabiting trees, so their origin of flight originated form leaping, parachuting and gliding formt rees.
- The Ostrom Theory: Birds evolved from ______
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Coelurosaurs.
Key points: Group appreard 135 MYA (too late?)
Extreme convergence of skeletal features.
Cursorial origin of flight: balance and maneuver.
Feathers where for insulation first then flight.
Dinosaurs as endotherms - 2 Late Jurassic Birds (140 MYA):
- Confusiousornis and Liaoningornis
- Characteristics of Confusiousornis
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Differs Archeopteryx tail, feet (perching) beak instead of teeth, stronger flier
Similar Archeopteryx fingers, lack keel, same type of legs, shoulder girdle - Characteristics of Liaoningornis
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Has keel, fused legs, no fingers, different rib structure (air sacs), pygostyle (modern bird)
-has teeth - Keel
- The median ridge on the breastbone of birds that fly
- Keel or Keel Disease
- acute septicemic salmonellosis or paratyphoid of ducklings marked by sudden collapse and death of apparently healthy birds
- pygostyle
- The plate of bone which forms the posterior end of the vertebral column in most birds; the plowshare bone; the vomer. It is formed by the union of a number of the last caudal vertebr[ae], and supports the uropigium.
- uropygium or uropigium
- The posterior part of a bird's body, from which the tail feathers grow
- Shoulder girdle
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1. A bony or cartilaginous structure in vertebrates, attached to and supporting the forelimbs or anterior fins.
2.the bony or cartilaginous arch supporting the forelimbs of a vertebrate that corresponds to the pelvic girdle of the hind limbs but is usually not attached to the spinal column and that consists in lower forms of a single cartilage on each side which in higher forms becomes ossified, divided into the scapula above and the precoracoid and coracoid below, and complicated by the addition or substitution of one or more membrane bones and which in humans is highly modified with the scapula alone of the original elements well developed, the coracoid being represented only by the coracoid process of the scapula, and the precoracoid being replaced by the clavicle that connects the scapula with the sternum and is the only bony connection of the arm bones with the rest of the skeleton.
Also called the pectoral arch or pectoral girdle - What are the 2 bird lines in the Cretaceous Period?
- Archaeopteryx line and the Modern Bird line
- Another name for the birds of the Archeopteryx line during the Cretaceous Period
- Enantiornithes
- The Archeopteryx Line, (Enantiornithes) were:
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The dominant group, Many types, (e.g., Sinornis, sparrow sized toothed bird)
This group was extinct at the end of the Cretaceous - Of the Modern Bird line of the Cretaceous, ________
- There were toothed forms (toothed divers, Ichthyornis) and Beaked forms which survived mass extinction
- Because radition of Non-passerines took place so long ago it is difficult to ______
- Determine relationships of orders
- ___________ may be close to the original line at the end of the Cretaceous
- Shorebirds, ( gulls and sandpipers)
- Modern orders of birds occurred when?
- 50 MYA
- When did Non-Passerine Radiation Occur?
- After dinosaur extinction, possibly around 65 MYA
- When did Passerine Radiation occur?
- About 20 MYA
- 5 extinct giant birds:
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Terror Birds: South American Predators
Elephant Birds: 1000 lbs, Madagascar
Moas: 12' Tall, New Zealand
Pseuodontorns: seabirds with 17' wingspans and false teeth
Teratorns: 170 lb vultures with 25' wingspan - WHy are there more large forms among fossil birds than among living birds?
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Bias in fossil records-large forms preserve better
Short evolutionary lifespan because vulnerable to extinction