The Tuatara or Spenodon (Sphenodon punctatus, Sphenodon guntheri or Hatteria punctata) is the only surviving genus of the snout-headed reptiles, Rhynchocephalia order or group of prehistoric reptiles which preceded the dinosaurs. The tuatara is a lizard-like reptile found only on some 30 islands off the north coast of New Zealand, the Sphenodon guntheri species being found only on North Brother Island in the Cook Strait. The tuatara lays between 10 and 14 eggs which it buries in the ground and live either in a burrow it digs itself or sharing a burrow built by petrels. A fully grown tuatara is about 60 cm long, usually dark olive in colour with yellow dots. The tuatara is carnivorous, feeding mainly on insects, snails and earthworms but also eating lizards small birds and eggs. It differs from the lizards in having the quadratebone, to which the lower jaw is attached, immovable; while the bones of the vertebrae are hollowed at both ends. The mandible is beak-like and there is a pineal body, or rudimentary third eye, in the top of the skull. The skin is tubercled, and a crest of small spines runs along the middle of the back and tail. It is a sluggish moving creature. Research Tuatara
Abbreviations
Research Bradyodonti
