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Skull diagram in top down and side-on views. Unlike the vast majority of lizards, the tuatara has a complete lower temporal bar closing the lower temporal fenestra (an opening of the skull behind the eye socket), caused by the fusion of the quadrate/quadratojugal (which are fused into a single element in adult tuatara) and the jugal bones of ...
An adult salamander generally resembles a small lizard, having a basal tetrapod body form with a cylindrical trunk, four limbs, and a long tail. Except in the family Salamandridae, the head, body, and tail have a number of vertical depressions in the surface which run from the mid-dorsal region to the ventral area and are known as costal ...
In Harrana specimens, two types of scales were observed on a single specimen: keeled scales covering the upper regions of the body and smooth scales covering the lower. [15] As ambush predators, lurking and quickly capturing prey using stealth tactics, [ 17 ] they may have benefited from the nonreflective, keeled scales. [ 15 ]
Rhynchocephalia (/ ˌ r ɪ ŋ k oʊ s ɪ ˈ f eɪ l i ə /; lit. ' beak-heads ') is an order of lizard-like reptiles that includes only one living species, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) of New Zealand.
The tall skull and round teeth of a Nile monitor Skull anatomy of Varanus exanthematicus (2nd row on the left) compared with other Varanoids White-throated monitor Nile monitor The genus Varanus is believed to have originated in South Asia , and the anatomy of its earliest members are thought to resemble modern members of Empagusia , such as ...
Giant salamanders of the genus Andrias, as well as Ceratophrine and Pyxicephalus frogs possess sharp teeth and are capable of drawing blood with a defensive bite. The blackbelly salamander ( Desmognathus quadramaculatus ) can bite an attacking common garter snake ( Thamnophis sirtalis ) two or three times its size on the head and often manages ...
Most lizard species and some snake species are insectivores. The remaining snake species, tuataras, and amphisbaenians, are carnivores. While some snake species are generalist, others eat a narrow range of prey - for example, Salvadora only eat lizards. [33] The remaining lizards are omnivores and can consume plants or insects. The broad ...
Lizard morphological and ecological diversity substantially increased over the course of the Cretaceous. [54] In the Palaeogene, lizard body sizes in North America peaked during the middle of the period. [55] Mosasaurs likely evolved from an extinct group of aquatic lizards [56] known as aigialosaurs in the Early Cretaceous.