TUATARA

Tuatara

The tuatara is a reptile that is endemic to New Zealand and which, though it resembles most lizards, is part of a distinct lineage, order Rhynchocephalia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the squamates . For this reason, tuatara are of great interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids .

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tuatara

Noun

  1. Either of two reptiles, Sphenodon punctatus or Sphenodon guntheri, native to New Zealand, that resemble lizards.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: tuatara
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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