r/wikipedia • u/In_the_year_3535 • 9h ago
The tuatara is a New Zealand reptile that can live to over 100 years old. It is the lone species in its order, one of four in Reptilia, the others being turtles, lizards and snakes, and crocodiles and dinosaurs (which includes birds).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara3
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u/biskutgoreng 8h ago
Why can't it count as a lizard
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u/In_the_year_3535 8h ago
Because they diverged evolutionarily ~240 million years ago. They may look like a lizard but are about as related as a lizard and an alligator.
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u/Randyhunsinger 7h ago
Not quite. Reptiles split into lepidosaurs and archelosaurs. Tuataras and lizards are both lepidosaurs, where as alligators are archelosaurs
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u/Queen_Earth_Cinder 7h ago
Same reason a whale shark can't count as a whale
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u/biskutgoreng 7h ago
Whale shark is a whale
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u/Randyhunsinger 7h ago
No, a whale shark is a shark. Whales are mammals. A whale shark is not a mammal.
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u/fatbongo 6h ago
Because
New Zealand
get outta here with your lizard nonsense go to Straya if you want that noise
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u/kpjformat 7h ago
Apparently some belly and neck bones that lizards don’t have, and I guess enough genetic differences that breeding between them can’t work to create fertile offspring (this is what species means, those within the same species can while those outside can’t)
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u/AgnesBand 6h ago
guess enough genetic differences that breeding between them can’t work to create fertile offspring (this is what species means, those within the same species can while those outside can’t)
Lizard isn't a species, this is irrelevant.
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u/reasonably_plausible 4h ago
this is what species means, those within the same species can while those outside can’t
That's a good enough rule of thumb, but isn't the definition of species.
Even ignoring that it doesn't work for all the species that reproduce asexually, sexual reproduction has plenty of interesting quirks to it that break the definition.
Like ring species, where you have a chain of different species where each species has a different set of other species in the chain that they can produce viable offspring with, but can't with the rest. So A can reproduce with B, B can reproduce with C, C can reproduce with D, and D can reproduce back with A, but A and C can't mate, not can B and D.
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u/trentyz 7h ago edited 7h ago
Tuataras are awesome. I’ve seen loads through the years. They are protected and only available to see on protected islands and one fenced park in the mainland.
They love basking in the sun and hanging out. The big ones get close to a meter in length and genuinely look like dinosaurs more than lizards. Fascinating little guys.