Name GEOL 104 Dinosaurs A Natural History Smithsonian Assignment I Osteology and Life on Land before the Dinosaurs DUE October 9 Every man is a valuable member of society who by his observations researches and experiments procures knowledge for men James Smithson 1765 1829 a British natural historian whose legacy of over 500 000 was given to the government of the United States of America for the creation of an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge the Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution s National Museum of Natural History NMNH has one of the largest collections of dinosaur and other fossils in the world The Smithsonian museums are free hours for the NMNH are 10 am to 5 30 pm 7 days a week You can take the Metro from the College Park Station to any of a number of stations near the Museum The quickest route is the Green Line from the UMd College Park Station to Archives Navy Memorial you don t have to change trains and the NMNH is just on the other side of the Archives Building For this exercise you may wish to bring along the anatomy sheets handed out in class You may work in teams and discuss your answers however ALL WORK YOU TURN IN MUST BE YOUR OWN I have caught and reported a number of students in the past you have cheated by copying each other s work please don t make me do that again To comply with University Senate regulations please sign the following so that you may receive credit for this assignment I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment Signature UID Date NOTE Use your OWN OBSERVATIONS in order to answer the questions This package works as sort of a self guided tour It will start in the Osteology Hall and then move downstairs to the Conquest of the Land exhibit and end up in the Dinosaur Hall 1 Name PART I OSTEOLOGY In order to better understand the dinosaurs we first have to understand the anatomy behavior and ecology of modern vertebrates The Smithsonian s Osteology Bones Hall gives us an excellent opportunity for comparison We do know a lot more about modern animals their complete anatomy including soft tissue their behavior their physiology etc than we do about extinct creatures so that way we can better tell when a particular skeletal structure matches a particular behavior or function We can then take this information and apply it to extinct creatures like the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic For this part of the exercise you will probably find the anatomy sheets handed out in class also available on the website a useful guide in identifying the homologous bones in these different animals Throughout when given a set of choices in brackets circle the single best possible answer Go to the second floor of the museum and enter into the hall labeled Bones Reptiles Insect Zoo This is one of the older halls but it contains a lot of useful specimens and information The end of the osteology exhibit proper is a chamber with the skeletons of various fish if you get to the exhibit with stuffed reptiles or the Orkin Insect Zoo you ve gone to far Find the case labeled Perciform Fish and identify the swordfish Xiphias gladius It is easy to identify because it is the biggest one in the room Look at its front fins 1 The front pectoral fin is organized as a single long bone followed by a pair of long bones distally followed by a series of long bones a single plate like bone with a larger number of elongate bones coming off of it like the tines of a comb Look for the case labeled Flying Fish Find the skeleton of the flying fish Danichthys 2 The wings of the flying fish are actually pectoral fins Compared to Xiphias the fins are of a totally different structure the same underlying skeleton but of different relative size 2 Name The next hall combines the skeletons of the reptiles and amphibians We ll start with the skeletons of salamanders the major group of four legged tailed amphibians in the table in the middle of the room Find the skeleton of giant Asian salamander Megalobatrachus japonicus actually called Andrias japonicus in current taxonomy 3 How many bones are in the proximal part of the arm 4 How many bones are in the forearm distal to the elbow proximal to the wrist 5 How many sacral vertebrae hip vertebrae which connect to the ilia are present Now on to the reptiles We ll start with the lizards As you recall the first dinosaurs to be named Megalosaurus and Iguanodon were thought to be immense monitor lizards and iguanas respectively Representatives of both groups can be found in this hall Check out the skeletons of the monitor lizard Veranus a typo the correct name is Varanus bengalensis and the rhinoceros iguana Cyclura cornuata Now find the specimen of the black tegu Tupainambis negropunctatus 6 How many digits fingers per manus hand does it have 7 How many digits per pes foot does it have 8 How many sacral vertebrae hip vertebrae which connect to the ilia are present When Owen named the Dinosauria he said one of the distinguishing features of this group was their upright stance that is their limbs were oriented directly underneath the body Look at the black tegu again 9 The limbs of the black tegu are directly underneath the body sprawl out to the sides Find the skeletons of Varanus misspelled Veranus bengalensis and of the Gila monster Heloderma suspectum Note that these two lizards are about the same length from their shoulders to their hips Compare the relative length of their limbs to the size of their torso 3 Name 10 Based on the relative limb length Varanus Heloderma is likely the faster lizard 11 Justify your answer to 10 Below are cartoons of four major skull types found in amniotes They differ by the patterns of the temporal fenestrae the openings for jaw muscle attachments Find the skeleton of the chameleon Chamaeleo chamaeleo 12 Which of the skull types above does Chamaeleo show anapsid synapsid diapsid modified diapsid Circle the correct answer Turn left to find the crocodilian skeletons Shown are the American alligator Alligator mississippiensis the American crocodile Crocodylus acutus the gavial Gavialis gangeticus and the black caiman Caiman niger 13 Which of the skull types above do crocodylians show easiest to see in Gavialis and Alligator anapsid synapsid diapsid modified diapsid 4 Name Compare the skulls of Crocodylus and Gavialis Gavialis eats primarily small fish Crocodylus eats larger fish turtles birds and the occasional land mammal 14 What features of