Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), family Sphenodontidae, order Rhynchocephalia, endemic to New Zealand
Once considered ENDANGERED, they have been upgraded to Least Concern now.
There were once considered to be 2 species of Tuatara, but now there is only one species recognized.
This is not a lizard.
Tuataras can grow to a total length of up to 80 cm (31 in).
This is the only member of the reptile group Rhynchocephalia that is still around. All other species went extinct millions of years ago.
Tuataras were eradicated by humans and introduced species from the main islands of New Zealand, and now only occur on small islands near the North Island and far north of the South Island.
(*There has been some modest success re-introducing them to the main islands.)
Are there any amphibians/reptiles/birds that are considered living fossils? or are like sorta close to being such. Itd be neat to see methinks =^]?
Living Fossils:
So, I am usually leery of using the phrase "living fossil", because it elides the fact that all creatures living today are equally the products of ~3.5-4 billion years of evolution.
However, I get the idea... animals that seem to be from older groups (many of which are no longer around) and seem to have not changed too much over millions of years, get labelled "Living Fossils".
Crocodilians are sometimes referred to in this way, but the reptile that usually gets this is from an ancient group, called the Rhynchocephalia.
Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), family Sphenodontidae, order Rhynchocephalia, endemic to New Zealand
There were once 2 recognized species of Tuatara, but now they are considered to be just one species.
This is not a lizard.
This is the only member of the reptile group Rhynchocephalia that is still around. All other species went extinct millions of years ago.
Tuataras were eradicated by humans and introduced species from the main islands of New Zealand, and now only occur on small islands near the North Island and far north of the South Island.
(*There has been some modest success re-introducing them to the main islands.)
This is one of my very favorite animals!!!
photograph by Houston Chandler
photograph by Sid Mosdell
photograph by Chung-Wei Logan You
EAT A TASTY WETA!!!
photograph by Ryan Photographic
ANOTHER SPECIES OF REPTILE THAT IS CONSIDERED "PRIMITIVE" IN ITS ANATOMY:
American Pipe Snake aka False Coral Snake (Anilius scytale), family Aniliidae, Peru
This family is monotypic, containing only this species.
This species is considered to be quite primitive, in its anatomy, amongst snakes.
One of the oldest orders with still living representatives, Rhynchocephalia is composed of one remaining species: the Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) of New Zealand.
Tuatara are greenish brown and grey, and measure up to 80 cm (31 in) from head to tail-tip and weigh up to 1.3 kg (2.9 lb). They have a spiny crest along their back, especially pronounced in males. They have two rows of teeth in the upper jaw overlapping one row on the lower jaw, a unique feature among living species. Their teeth are not replaced, and as they wear down, older Tuatara have to switch to softer prey such as earthworms, larvae, and slugs, and eventually have to chew their food between smooth jaw bones. They have no external ears, but are still able to hear. Their “main” eyes can focus independently and have good color vision. Tuatara also have a parietal eye on the top of their head, visible only in hatchlings as a translucent patch. After four to six months, it becomes covered with opaque scales and pigment. The parietal eye has its own lens, a parietal plug that resembles a cornea, retina with rod-like structures, and degenerated nerve connection to the brain. It may be useful in absorbing UV rays to produce vitamin D, as well as to determine light/dark cycles, and help with thermoregulation. Tuataras mainly eat invertebrates such as beetles, weta, worms, millipedes, and spiders, but will also prey on lizards, seabird eggs and chicks and, on occasion, smaller tuataras.
Tuataras are more tolerant of, and actually prefer, cooler weather than other non-avian reptiles. They don’t survive well over 25°C (77°F), and can live below 5°C (41°F), by sheltering in burrows and brumating during winter. Temperatures over 28°C (82.4°F) are generally fatal. Their lower body temperature makes for a slower metabolism, and slow growth, taking 10 to 20 years to reach sexual maturity. Females mate and lay eggs once every four years. During courtship, a male makes his skin darker, raises his crests, and parades toward the female. He slowly walks in circles around the female with stiffened legs. Males do not have a penis, and instead mate via a “cloacal kiss”, like many species of birds. Birds and Tuataras are the only reptiles known to reproduce like this. Female Tuataras lay eggs with soft, parchment-like shells. She will lay 9–10 eggs on average, back-fill the nest and guard it for several days before abandoning the eggs to their long incubation period, which takes 11 to 16 months. The sex of a hatchling depends on the temperature of the egg, with warmer eggs tending to produce male Tuatara, and cooler eggs producing females. During their first 2 vulnerable months the hatchlings are diurnal, hiding under logs and stones, to avoid being preyed on by hungry nocturnal adults. Within a year they learn to burrow and become nocturnal. The young Tuatara will continue to grow larger for the first 35 years of their lives. Their average lifespan is about 60 years, but they can live to be well over 100 years old, and possibly up to 200 years in human care,
Despite only having one surviving species, rhynchocephalians were once much more diverse and widespread. They evolved before squamates (lizards), with the oldest record of the group, Wirtembergia, dated to the Middle Triassic (around 238 to 240 million years ago). Rhynchocephalians had achieved global distribution by the Early Jurassic, and were for eons the world's dominant group of small reptiles. Many of the niches occupied by lizards today were held by rhynchocephalians during the Triassic and Jurassic. However, today’s Tuatara emerged in the Early Miocene, around 19 million years ago.
Do you have a favorite in Rhynchocephalia?
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Voting ended onApr 3, 2025
Propaganda under the cut:
The name Tuatara is derived from the Māori language and means "peaks on the back".
Tuatara are the largest reptiles in New Zealand.
Henry, a male Tuatara at Southland Museum, became a father (possibly for the first time) in January 2009, at age 111, with an 80 year-old female named Mildred.
Tuatara feature in a number of indigenous legends, and are held as ariki (God forms). Tuatara are considered the messengers of Whiro, the god of death and disaster, and Māori women are forbidden to eat them. Today, Tuatara are regarded as a taonga (special treasure) along with being viewed as the kaitiaki (guardian) of knowledge.
The eponymous Leo from the Adam Sandler movie Leo (2023) is supposedly a Tuatara. However, he looks more like an iguana and has the tongue of a chameleon. It is also illegal to keep Tuatara as pets, and there is no population in the Florida Everglades. The species may have been chosen to make sure the elderly “lizard” was a long-lived species.
One of the largest known rhynchocephalians was the herbivorous Priosphenodon avelasi. Priosphenodon lived in Middle Cretaceous Argentina and could reach over 1 metre (3.3 ft) in total length. It was the most abundant terrestrial vertebrate in the Candeleros Formation, and the only herbivore found there.
Tuataras are threatened by the egg-eating Polynesian Rat (Rattus exulans), which was introduced to the islands by the Māori. They were wiped out from the main New Zealand islands before European settlement, with populations persisting on 32 rat-free, off shore islands. Attempts to re-establish a breeding population on the New Zealand mainland have had some success. However, climate change may pose a new threat, as Tuatara have temperature-dependent sex determination. Higher egg temperatures lead to males, and as global temperatures rise, more males than females are hatching. Current solutions to this potential threat are to selectively remove adults and incubate female eggs in captivity to then be released.
Tuataras are currently considered “least concern” (ie not at risk of extinction), but their status as a relict species grants them protection and dedicated conservation efforts. Plus, their slow rate of growth and reproduction would make recovery very slow if there is any population collapse. If we lose the Tuatara, we also lose our last living link to an entire order of Triassic reptiles.
Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), family Sphenodontidae, order Rhynchocephalia, endemic to New Zealand
There were once 2 recognized species of Tuatara, but now they are considered to be just one species.
This is not a lizard.
This is the only member of the reptile group Rhynchocephalia that is still around. All other species went extinct millions of years ago.
Tuataras were eradicated by humans and introduced species from the main islands of New Zealand, and now only occur on small islands near the North Island and far north of the South Island.
(*There has been some modest success re-introducing them to the main islands.)
Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus), family Sphenodontidae, order Rhynchocephalia, endemic to New Zealand
There were once 2 recognized species of Tuatara, but now they are considered to be just one species.
This is not a lizard.
This is the only member of the reptile group Rhynchocephalia that is still around. All other species went extinct millions of years ago.
Tuataras were eradicated by humans and introduced species from the main islands of New Zealand, and now only occur on small islands near the North Island and far north of the South Island.
(*There has been some modest success re-introducing them to the main islands.)
