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Aves (birds) See text for extinct groups. Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic ('cold-blooded') metabolism and amniotic development. Living reptiles comprise four orders: Testudines (turtles), Crocodilia (crocodilians), Squamata (lizards and snakes), and Rhynchocephalia (the tuatara).
Crocodilians, and birds, are members of the Archosaur clade. Archosaurs are distinguished from other reptiles particularly by two sets of extra openings in the skull: the antorbital fenestra located in front of the animal's eye socket and the mandibular fenestra in the middle of the jaw.
Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, [ 1 ] ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The grouping is paraphyletic as some lizards are more closely related to snakes than they are to other ...
Archosauria (lit. 'ruling reptiles') or archosaurs (/ ˈɑːrkəˌsɔːr / [3]) is a clade of diapsid sauropsid tetrapods, with birds and crocodilians being the only extant representatives. Although broadly classified as reptiles, which traditionally exclude birds, the cladistic sense of the term includes all living and extinct relatives of ...
Reptile centres. Reptile organizations. Reptile publications. Books on reptiles. Periodicals on reptiles. Scientific journals covering reptiles. Reptile databases. Persons influential in reptile-related activities. See also.
A white-headed dwarf gecko with shed tail. Reptiles are tetrapod animals in the class Reptilia, comprising today's turtles, crocodilians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, tuatara, and their extinct relatives. The study of these traditional reptile orders, historically combined with that of modern amphibians, is called herpetology.
Tortoises (/ ˈtɔːrtəs.ɪz / TOR-təs-iz) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like other members of the suborder Cryptodira, they retract their necks and ...
Monitor lizard. Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus Varanus, the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. [ 1 ] About 80 species are recognized.