Datasets -> Sphenodon Punctatus -> General Information

Entrez Taxonomy
Sphenodon punctatus, the tuatara, is the only surviving member of the order Rhynchocephalia ("beak-heads"), which first appeared in the Middle Triassic period (~240 MYA) and became the world's most prevalent group of small reptiles during the Jurassic period (~200-140 MYA). Although it resembles a lizard and is most closely related to the order Squamata (snakes and lizards), Rhynchocephalia forms a distinct order. The tuatara has been popularly referred to as a "living fossil", though this term is discouraged by paleontologists and evolutionary biologists as the fossil record does not suggest the species has survived unchanged since it arose in the Triassic. In the modern day, the tuatara's habitat was restricted to a group of 32 islands off of the North Island of New Zealand (with a total population estimated to approach 100,000 animals) until its reintroduction to a North Island wildlife sanctuary in the early 21st century. The tuatara measures up to 80 cm from head to tail and can weigh up to 1.3 kg. Their unusual features include a spiny crest along their back, a second row of upper teeth, some unusual skeletal features, and a third parietal eye - which though covered with opaque scales in the adult nonetheless has its own lens, cornea, and retina, and probably serves to regulate the circadian rhythm as a part of the pineal complex. The tuatara is very long-lived, surviving to well over 100 years in captivity and capable of breeding in the wild at least into its 60s (with a female/male pair aged 80/111 successfully breeding in captivity). sphenodon punctatus, tuatara, rhynchocephalia