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A living representative of rhynchocephalian reptiles is |
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Answer» New Zealand’s endemic TUATARA is a very UNUSUAL animal. They are the only living representative of a group of reptiles known as Rhynchocephalia (sometimes known in the past as Sphenodontia) that first appeared over 200 million years ago. They are not lizards. The ancestors of tuatara were present on the landmass that would later become New Zealand, when it SEPARATED from Gondwana over 80 million years ago. They have EVOLVED in isolation ever since. Scientific classification Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Subphylum Vertebrata Class Reptilia Order Rhynchocephalia Family Sphenodontidae Genus Sphenodon Species Punctatus |
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