Deuterostomes Lab

NOTE: Lab practicals will be offered on Sunday, November 22, Monday, November 23, and Tuesday, November 24. When signing up for your lab session and practical, keep in mind that the Thanksgiving holiday does not begin until 1 pm on Wednesday, November 25. Plan your travel accordingly. There will be NO MAKE-UP EXAMS offered.

ALSO NOTE: You will dissect a specific organism in the lab but are responsible for learning the material for all the animals discussed. This will require study outside of lab.

This is the new Fig. 1 to replace the figure on page L66 in your Survival Manual.

To prepare for their scheduled lab section students must :

1. Attend the Deuterostome Evolution lecture on November 10 in HEC Auditorium in Goldwin Smith at 9:05 am.
2. Review pages 536-543, 654-664, 693-695, and 698-721 in Campbell and Reece.
3. Read the lab guide in the Survival Manual (pp. L55-L97) before lab, and the dissection instructions for the specimen that you signed up to dissect in lab.
4. Complete the deuterostome lab objectives on pp. L57-L62.
5. Be prepared for a short quiz on pages 536-543 and 654-664 in your text and objectives 1-8.
6. Bring the lab guide (pp. L55-L141) to lab.

After Lab:

1. Be certain to clean up after yourself in lab. Students who fail to clean up after themselves will lose points!
2. Come to the Study Center early and often to learn the anatomy of the animals you did not dissect in lab. Specimens will be available and TAs will be around to help.
3. Take the practical exam. The exam will have both written and practical portions. The practical portion will consist of ~25 stations with 4 questions at each station. You will have 90 seconds at each station. Note: NO MAKE-UP PRACTICAL will be offered.

Deuterostomes Demo:

Protostomes vs. Deuterostomes

• Embryological distinction

Phylogenetic Trees

• Intro to Phylogenetic Trees
• Homology and Analogy

Deuterostome Diversity and Evolution

Phylum Echinodermata

• Important features of the group
• Examples
• Optional information:
  • Natural Histroy Magazine: Catch and release - sea cucumbers might put a torn Achilles tendon back together again

Phylum Hemichordata

• Important features of the group
• Examples

Phylum Chordata

• Important features of the group
• Examples

Evolutionary relationships: Echinoderms - Hemichordates - Chordates

• Evidence for shared ancestry
• Chordate Origins via Paedomorphosis

Chordate Groups

Subphylum Urochordata

• Important features of the group
• Paedomorphosis - An evolutionary connection between larval urochordates and other chordates
• Anti-cancer drugs under development derived from sea squirts!

Subphylum Cephalochordata (Amphioxus / Branchiostoma)

• Important features of the group

Subphylum Vertebrata (Craniata)

• Important features of the group
• The movement to land - Tetrapod evolution (required reading)

• Vertebrate Groups:
  • Jawless fish
    • Pacific Lamprey
      • Circ and Urogen Systems Overhead
  • Cartilagenous fish
    • Spiny Dogfish (Shark)
      • Circ and Urogen Systems Overhead
  • Bony fish
  • Perch
  • Amphibians
    • Salamander (Necturus)
      • Circ and Urogen Systems Overhead
    • Frog
      • Circ System Overhead
  • Reptiles (including Birds)
    • Turtle
      • Circ and Urogen Systems Overhead
    • Pigeon
      • Circ System Overhead
  • Mammals
    • Rat

Comparative Anatomy - Deuterostome Systems

• Circulatory and Excretory System Diagrams from Lab Overheads
  • Lamprey
  • Shark
  • Necturus
  • Frog (circ only)
  • Turtle
  • Pigeon (circ only)

Images of dissections with labeled anatomy (new!)

• Lamprey
• Sea Star
• Shark
• Necturus
• Turtle
• Pigeon

Other Resources

• Deuterostome FAQ - Under Construction!

News and Links

• Washington University in St. Louis - Amphioxus and humans go "way back."
• DiscoveryNews.com
  • Oldest Vertebrate Fossil Discovered
• Natural History Magazine
  • Catch and release - sea cucumbers might put a torn Achilles tendon back together again
• Science Magazine
  • Tyrannosaurs Evolved Head First - The most primitive tyrannosauroid ever found was decked out with downy "protofeathers" and a T. rex-like skull.
  • Does hair really make mammals special? NEW!
  • Sand dollars "split" when predators are around.
  • A Whiff of Things to Come - Ancient fish fossil helps explain the evolution of air-breathing nostrils
  • Tunicate Genome Shows a Little Backbone - Urochordates
  • Possible new roles for Hox genes - Amphioxus, Cephalochordates
  • In Search of Vertebrate Origins: Beyond Brain and Bone - Melding genes, neurons, and fossils, a new synthesis overturns long-held ideas about the rise of our favorite lineage and shows how a good theory can propel science--even if it's partly wrong
  • Bird-Brained Archaeopteryx - Birds and Reptiles
  • Leading Lampreys by the Nose - Lamprey pheromones NEW!
  • Inching onto Land - Ichthyostega origins NEW!
  • Fish that talk??  NEW!
• Others
• Birds get high on dinosaur breathing - Reptiles/Birds
• Meet Tiktaalik roseae - the "fishapod" NEW!
• The littlest lizard - the world's smallest reptile discovered in Caribbean.
• Indiscriminate exploitation of sea cucumber in Cuba threatens its survival -Echinoderms
• Virgin Shark Birth! NEW!


• Nature
  • A larval revelation - Identification of the previously unknown larval forms of the sea lilies, a group of marine invertebrates, is a refreshing reminder of the value of descriptive science in evolutionary studies.
  • Zoology: Larva flow - Properties of sea lily larvae provide support for Garstang's proposal that the chordate central nervous system derives from the ciliated bands of an ancestral chordate tadpole larva.
• Biological bodice-ripper - Coevolution of a lizard and a flower in the Tasmanian highlands.
• Sea Creature Confused for its Lunch -Echinoderms
• Getting a head - Can the vertebrate head develop without neural crest tissue?
• In the foothills of the headlands - Amphioxus gives clues about the origins of the vertebrate head