AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Acquisition of basic knowledge concerning a animal biology. Acquisition of the bases of the zoological classification and of the characteristics of the main animal groups.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Attendance and active participation in the proposed training activities (lectures and laboratory activities) and individual study will allow the student to acquire basic knowledge of animal systematics by studying modern classification criteria and the main groups of organisms and learning to use correct scientific terminology.

Furthermore, thanks to the museum collection, they will be able to see 'live' the main animal taxa which will be explained in the lessons and carry out the dissection of some animals, where the anatomy of the species will be highlighted.

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of lectures, for a total of 32 hours, and a 16-hour theoretical-practical laboratory part, in which students will be able to study museum collections, view microscopic specimens, and carry out some dissections of organisms. (bivalves, cephalopods, decapod crustaceans and fish).
The laboratory exercises will be organized in person divided into several shifts.

"Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Sara Ferrando (sara.ferrando@unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison.”

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course program includes the presentation and discussion of the following topics:

- The hierarchical structure of the classification. The rules of nomenclature; meaning of species; biological classification and phylogeny; taxonomy; systematic. Taxonomic characters. Monophyletic, polyphyletic, paraphyletic. Classification methods. Phylogenetic systematics (cladistics). Parsimony method. Basic concepts of traditional evolutionary systematics. Characteristics that protostomes have in common. Characteristics that deuterostomes have in common. Animals diblastic and triblastic. Diagram of the origin of the coelom.

- The Protozoa: morphological characters and systematics. Limits of the organization of an organism unicellular.

- The Porifera and their different organizational models.

- The Eumetazoa. Cnidaria: organizational model of the polyp, jellyfish, systematics.

- The Ctenophores and the triblastic situation.

- The appearance of bilateral symmetry. Lophotrochozoa and Ecdysozoa. The acelomate worms (Acelomorpha, Catenulid and Rhabditophoran), adaptations to parasitic life and examples of life cycles. Characters main Rotifers and parthenogenesis. Appearance of the coelom and advantages of the presence of a cavity of the body: the Nemertines.

- Metamerism and its advantages. Annelids: description of the organization of the body and aspects of the life cycle in Polychaetes, Oligochaetes, Hirudinei. Description of the organization of the body in the ancestral mollusc. Phylogeny of molluscs. Main characters of Polyplacophora, Monoplacophorans, Gastropods, Bivalves, Scaphopods and Cephalopods.

- Nematodes: description of the organization of the body. The arthropodization process and moulting. Main features of the Chelicerates. Body organization in crustaceans and evolutionary trends. The Unirami. The Insects, morphology of the head, body and appendages. The insect wing: position, morphology, and evolutionary trends.

- The deuterostomes: Echinoderms: organization and functions of the aquifer system. Crinoidea, Asteroidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea and Holoturoidea.

- The organizational plan of the Chordata: dorsal cord, neural tube and gill pharynx. Characteristics of the Urochordates; internal filtration and metamorphosis in sea squirts; examples of colonial organization; Larvacea and Thalacea. Characters of Hemicephalochordates: organization of amphioxus. Differences in the mouth between Agnathes and Gnathostomes. Internal and external morphology of living Agnates. The Chondrichthyans and the Osteichthyes. Internal morphology and exterior of Amphibians and larval development. The Reptiles. Adaptations to terrestrial life and embryonic appendages of the amniote egg. Birds. Flight adaptations. Mammals, characteristics of prototherians, metathers and euthers.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference text:

- Hickman et al., Zoology, McGraw Hill Education

For further information, you can consult:

- Brusca R.C., Brusca G.J, Invertebrates, Zanichelli

- F. Harvey Pough, C.M. Janis, J.B. Heiser, Vertebrate Zoology, Zanichelli

All the images shown during lessons and laboratorys, divided by topic and accompanied by a short text, can be downloaded from Aula WEB.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Consult the detailed timetable at the following link: https://easyacademy.unige.it/portalestudenti/

Class schedule

SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of an oral dissertation. Each candidate will also be asked to recognise, at phylum and class level, an organism from the museum collection.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Details on how to prepare for the exam and the level of depth of each topic will be given during the lessons.