Dinosaurs have been widely depicted in culture since the English palaeontologist Richard Owen coined the name "dinosaur" in 1842. As soon as 1854, the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs were on display to the public in south London. One dinosaur appeared in literature even earlier, as Charles Dickens placed a "Megalosaurus" in the first chapter of his novel "Bleak House" in 1852. The dinosaurs featured in books, films, television programs, artwork, and other media have been used for both education and entertainment. The depictions range from the realistic, as in the television documentaries of the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century, or the fantastic, as in the monster movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
In cultures and religions
Reptile
Reptile | In cultures and religions
Yes - In Egyptian history, the Nile cobra was worshipped as one of the gods and was also used for sinister purposes; In Hinduism, snakes are worshipped as gods; The turtle has a symbol of steadfastness and tranquility in religion, mythology, and folklore from around the world. Yes, the snake or serpent has played a powerful symbolic role in different cultures The snake or serpent has played a powerful symbolic role in different cultures like in  Egyptian history, the Nile cobra adorned the crown of the pharaoh, in Greek mythology snakes are associated with deadly antogonist, as a chthonic symbol etc Yes, dinosaurs have been widely depicted in culture since the English palaeontologist Richard Owen coined the name "dinosaur"; the snake or serpent has played a powerful symbolic role in different cultures.
hypothalamic amenorrhea will result in the increased secretion of thyroid stimulating hormone (tsh)
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
assistant
what is hypopituitarism?
user
A decreased ("hypo") secretion of one or more of the eight hormones normally produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain.
assistant
what are the indications of it?
user
Insufficiency of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and/or luteinizing hormone (LH) leading to sex hormone abnormalities. Growth hormone deficiency is more common in people with an underlying tumor than those with other causes.
assistant
how this can be treated?
user
Removing the underlying cause, treating the hormone deficiencies, and addressing any other repercussions that arise from the hormone deficiencies.
assistant
you mentioned a gland above, where is it located in human body?
user
The bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain.
assistant
what is the size of this gland?
user
The size of a pea
assistant
what is the functions of anterior lobe of this gland?
user
Synthesizes and secretes hormones; regulates several physiological processes including stress, growth, reproduction, and lactation.
assistant
which hormones are synthesized by this lobe?
user
Growth hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) etc
assistant
how is the posterior lobe different from the anterior lobe?
user
It store and secretes (but does not synthesize) the important endocrine hormones.
assistant
in which other animals this gland can be found?
user
All vertebrates such as mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds,
assistant
what is the clinical significance of this gland?
user
There are diseases involving the pituitary gland. The functions of the pituitary gland can be adversely affected by an over- or under-production of associated hormones. The Pituitary gland growth during adolescence can be altered by early life stress such as childhood maltreatment or maternal dysphoric behavior.
assistant
what is the third mentioned vertebrates from the above list?
user
They are tetrapod animals in the class Reptilia, comprising today's turtles, crocodilians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, tuatara, and their extinct relatives
assistant
do they play any roles in cultures and religions?
user
In the annual Hindu festival of Nag Panchami, snakes are venerated and prayed to. In religious terms, the snake and jaguar are arguably the most important animals in ancient Mesoamerica. "In states of ecstasy, lords dance a serpent dance; great descending snakes adorn and support buildings from Chichen Itza to Tenochtitlan, and the Nahuatl word "coatl" meaning serpent or twin, forms part of primary deities such as Mixcoatl, Quetzalcoatl, and Coatlicue." In Christianity and Judaism, a serpent appears in Genesis to tempt Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The turtle has a prominent position as a symbol of steadfastness and tranquility in religion, mythology, and folklore from around the world.
Reptile | In cultures and religions
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. Because some reptiles are more closely related to birds than they are to other reptiles (e.g., crocodiles are more closely related to birds than they are to lizards), the traditional groups of "reptiles" listed above do not together constitute a monophyletic grouping or clade (consisting of all descendants of a common ancestor). For this reason, many modern scientists prefer to consider the birds part of Reptilia as well, thereby making Reptilia a monophyletic class, including all living diapsids.
Reptile | Introduction
A reptile is a tetrapod vertebrate of the taxonomic class Reptilia, including crocodilians, snakes, lizards and turtles. Reptile or Reptilia may also refer to: In music:
Reptile (disambiguation) | Introduction
Culture consists of the social behaviour and norms found in human societies and transmitted through social learning. Cultural universals in all human societies include expressive forms like art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing. The concept of material culture covers physical expressions such as technology, architecture and art, whereas immaterial culture includes principles of social organization, mythology, philosophy, literature, and science. The ethnobiologist Luis Ceriaco reviews the place of reptiles in culture, as studied by ethnoherpetology, considering their practical uses, namely food, medicine, and other materials; their contribution to "ecological equilibrium", the balance of nature; and negative or fearful attitudes to them (especially snakes), causing persecution, an additional challenge for conservation.
Human uses of reptiles | Context
In Goa, crocodile worship is practised, as at the annual "Mannge Thapnee" ceremony. In Latin America, Cipactli was the giant earth crocodile of the Aztec and other Nahua peoples.
Human uses of reptiles | In mythology and religion
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. List of reptiles lists the vertebrate class of reptiles by family, spanning two subclasses. 'Reptile' here is taken in its traditional (paraphyletic) sense, and thus birds are not included (although birds are considered reptiles in the cladistic sense).
List of reptiles | Introduction
Reptiles both real, like crocodiles and snakes, and imaginary, like dragons, appear in mythology and religions around the world. A widespread theme is the World Turtle that supports the world; it is found in the mythologies of Hinduism, China and the Americas. Romulo Alves and colleagues recorded the use of 13 species of reptiles (crocodilians and snakes) in Brazil for magic religious purposes such as magic spells, attracting sexual partners, and as amulets to protect against the evil eye. A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with snake or reptile-like traits, in the myths of both European and Chinese cultures, with counterparts in Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries.
Human uses of reptiles | In mythology and religion
Human uses of reptiles have for centuries included both symbolic and practical interactions. Symbolic uses of reptiles include accounts in mythology, religion, and folklore as well as pictorial symbols such as medicine's serpent-entwined caduceus. Myths of creatures with snake-like or reptilian attributes are found around the world, from Chinese and European dragons to the Woolunga of Australia. Classical myths told of the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra, the Gorgon sisters including the snake-haired Medusa, and the snake-legged Titans. Crocodiles appear in the religions of Ancient Egypt, in Hinduism, and in Aztec and other Latin American cultures. Practical uses of reptiles include the manufacture of snake antivenom and the farming of crocodiles, principally for leather but also for meat.
Human uses of reptiles | Introduction
Reptiles including crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tortoises have been portrayed by artists since ancient times, using media as varied as fresco, ceramic, marble, jewellery, and oil on canvas. This has sometimes been for their symbolism, as with snakes. M. C. Escher explored tessellations in his graphic art using lizards and snakes among other animals.
Human uses of reptiles | In art
The teeth are merely projections of bony material from the jaw and eventually wear down. The brain and heart are more primitive than those of other reptiles, and the lungs have a single chamber and lack bronchi. The tuatara has a well-developed parietal eye on its forehead.
Anatomy | Reptile anatomy
The snake or serpent has played a powerful symbolic role in different cultures. In Egyptian history, the Nile cobra adorned the crown of the pharaoh. It was worshipped as one of the gods and was also used for sinister purposes: murder of an adversary and ritual suicide (Cleopatra). In Greek mythology snakes are associated with deadly antagonists, as a chthonic symbol, roughly translated as "earthbound". The nine-headed Lernaean Hydra that Hercules defeated and the three Gorgon sisters are children of Gaia, the earth. Medusa was one of the three Gorgon sisters who Perseus defeated. Medusa is described as a hideous mortal, with snakes instead of hair and the power to turn men to stone with her gaze.
Reptile | In cultures and religions
As well as the serpent, the Nile crocodile was another important reptile in Ancient Egyptian religion. Several deities were depicted in crocodilian form, but the most famous and important of these was undoutedly the god Sobek. Sobek was a powerful and fearsome god, associated with violence and strength, and acted as a fierce protector against evil, and a punisher of wrongdoers. It is easy to see why he was associated with the crocoodile, which similarly is a very fearsome creature. Sobek also had a role relating to fertility, particularly the fertility brought to the land by the Nile flood, in whose waters crocodiles live.
Animal worship | Other reptiles
Reptiles generally reproduce sexually, though some are capable of asexual reproduction. All reproductive activity occurs through the cloaca, the single exit/entrance at the base of the tail where waste is also eliminated. Most reptiles have copulatory organs, which are usually retracted or inverted and stored inside the body. In turtles and crocodilians, the male has a single median penis, while squamates, including snakes and lizards, possess a pair of hemipenes, only one of which is typically used in each session. Tuatara, however, lack copulatory organs, and so the male and female simply press their cloacas together as the male discharges sperm.
Reptile | Reproduction
The Titans are also depicted in art with snakes instead of legs and feet for the same reason—they are children of Gaia and Uranus, so they are bound to the earth. Crocodiles have appeared in religions across the world. Ancient Egypt had Sobek, the crocodile-headed god, with his cult-city Crocodilopolis, as well as Taweret, the goddess of childbirth and fertility, with the back and tail of a crocodile. In Hinduism, Varuna, a Vedic and Hindu god, rides a makara, a water-beast like a crocodile, and he is called Nāgarāja, lord of snakes. Similarly the goddess personifications of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers are often depicted as riding crocodiles.
Human uses of reptiles | In mythology and religion
A tortoise's longevity is suggested by its long lifespan and its shell, which was thought to protect it from any foe. In the cosmological myths of several cultures a "World Turtle" carries the world upon its back or supports the heavens.
Reptile | In cultures and religions
The use of a lizard as a mythological figure is not exclusive to the people of Nigeria. Other cultures in Africa use lizards, chameleons, frogs and snakes in explanations of their culture and environment. One possible reason for the selection of these types of animals is their changeable natures. Lizards in particular have the ability to regrow their tails, making the lizard a prime candidate for a story about regeneration or rebirth. Reptiles are not always negatively depicted or used as figures of chaos, nor are they always depicted as male. For instance, there is a serpent Aido-Hwedo, from the mythology of neighboring country Benin.
Agadzagadza | Reptile figures
The neck is long and flexible and the head and the legs can be drawn back inside the shell. Turtles are vegetarians and the typical reptile teeth have been replaced by sharp, horny plates. In aquatic species, the front legs are modified into flippers. Tuataras superficially resemble lizards but the lineages diverged in the Triassic period. There is one living species, "Sphenodon punctatus". The skull has two openings (fenestrae) on either side and the jaw is rigidly attached to the skull. There is one row of teeth in the lower jaw and this fits between the two rows in the upper jaw when the animal chews.
Anatomy | Reptile anatomy
Jeremy Fisher" and Br'er Turtle in Uncle Remus's folktales. In Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series, the world was created by the turtle Maturin, one of the guardians of the tower. Snakes, too, have played a role in literature since ancient Rome, where Cadmus kills a gigantic serpent in Ovid's "Metamorphoses", and as prophesied is transformed into a snake. The eponymous heroine in William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" kills herself with an asp viper, while John Milton's "Paradise Lost" describes Satan as a mighty serpent, "Fold above fold a surging Maze his Head / Crested aloft, and Carbuncle his Eyes; / With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold, erect / Amidst his circling Spires." In D.
Human uses of reptiles | In literature
The term "reptiles" is sometimes used as shorthand for 'non-avian Reptilia'. The earliest known proto-reptiles originated around 312 million years ago during the Carboniferous period, having evolved from advanced reptiliomorph tetrapods that became increasingly adapted to life on dry land. Some early examples include the lizard-like "Hylonomus" and "Casineria". In addition to the living reptiles, there are many diverse groups that are now extinct, in some cases due to mass extinction events. In particular, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event wiped out the pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ornithischians, and sauropods, alongside many species of theropods, crocodyliforms, and squamates (e.g., mosasaurs).
Reptile | Introduction
After killing her, Perseus gave her head to Athena who fixed it to her shield called the Aegis. The Titans are depicted in art with their legs replaced by bodies of snakes for the same reason: They are children of Gaia, so they are bound to the earth. In Hinduism, snakes are worshipped as gods, with many women pouring milk on snake pits. The cobra is seen on the neck of Shiva, while Vishnu is depicted often as sleeping on a seven-headed snake or within the coils of a serpent. There are temples in India solely for cobras sometimes called "Nagraj" (King of Snakes), and it is believed that snakes are symbols of fertility.
Reptile | In cultures and religions
This persecution, Ceriaco states, is related to and perhaps caused by myths and folklore about the animals. More broadly, ethnozoology studies the place of animals in human life, spanning topics including using animals for food, whether by hunting or by domestication and farming; animals as pets, in entertainment, and in sport; reports of mythical animals; human attitudes towards animals; medicinal and magic religious uses; and the exploitation of traditional knowledge of animals, such as in conservation.
Human uses of reptiles | Context
Reptiles are a class of animals comprising turtles, tuataras, lizards, snakes and crocodiles. They are tetrapods, but the snakes and a few species of lizard either have no limbs or their limbs are much reduced in size. Their bones are better ossified and their skeletons stronger than those of amphibians. The teeth are conical and mostly uniform in size. The surface cells of the epidermis are modified into horny scales which create a waterproof layer. Reptiles are unable to use their skin for respiration as do amphibians and have a more efficient respiratory system drawing air into their lungs by expanding their chest walls.
Anatomy | Reptile anatomy
However, reptiles were still important components of the megafauna, particularly in the form of large and giant tortoises. After the extinction of most archosaur and marine reptile lines by the end of the Cretaceous, reptile diversification continued throughout the Cenozoic. Squamates took a massive hit during the KT-event, only recovering ten million years after it, but they underwent a great radiation event once they recovered, and today squamates make up the majority of living reptiles (> 95%). Approximately 10,000 extant species of traditional reptiles are known, with birds adding about 10,000 more, almost twice the number of mammals, represented by about 5,700 living species (excluding domesticated species).
Reptile | Cenozoic reptiles
Reptiles are tetrapod animals from the class Reptilia comprising today's turtles, crocodilians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, tuatara, and their extinct relatives. Reptiles are vertebrates, creatures that either have four limbs or, like snakes, are descended from four-limbed ancestors. Unlike amphibians, reptiles do not have an aquatic larval stage. Most reptiles are oviparous, although several species of squamates are viviparous, as were some extinct aquatic clades — the fetus develops within the mother, contained in a placenta rather than an eggshell. As amniotes, reptile eggs are surrounded by membranes for protection and transport, which adapt them to reproduction on dry land. There are about 16 species of reptiles found in Czech republic.
List of herpetofauna of the Czech Republic | Reptile
Cultural attitudes to reptiles include a widespread fear, sometimes extending to phobia, especially of snakes; Carl Sagan suggested that the fear may be ancestral, and it is indeed shared by other primates. In the US, 12% of men and 38% of women feared snakes; along with spiders, this is the most common phobia in Western societies. Negative attitudes extend in some countries to other reptiles; for example, the harmless gecko is considered to be evil and poisonous in Portugal. Such attitudes have contributed to persecution. Folklore about reptiles, too, is correlated with negative attitudes to them. Persecution resulting from folklore and people's attitudes can thus be added to the challenge of conserving reptiles, already threatened by human activities including destruction of their habitats, pollution, climate change, competition with introduced alien species, and excessive exploitation, such as for bushmeat.
Human uses of reptiles | Persecution and conservation
Islam strictly forbids the consumption of reptiles, such as crocodiles and snakes. Eating reptiles is also forbidden in Judaism. In other cultures, foods such as alligator are treasured as delicacies, and the animals are raised commercially.
Food and drink prohibitions | Reptiles
Reptiles are generally considered less intelligent than mammals and birds. The size of their brain relative to their body is much less than that of mammals, the encephalization quotient being about one tenth of that of mammals, though larger reptiles can show more complex brain development. Larger lizards, like the monitors, are known to exhibit complex behavior, including cooperation and cognitive abilities allowing them to optimize their foraging and territoriality over time. Crocodiles have relatively larger brains and show a fairly complex social structure. The Komodo dragon is even known to engage in play, as are turtles, which are also considered to be social creatures, and sometimes switch between monogamy and promiscuity in their sexual behavior.
Reptile | Intelligence
Culture consists of the social behaviour and norms in human societies transmitted through social learning. Amphibians have for centuries appeared in culture. From the fire-dwelling salamander to the frogs (and occasionally toads) of myth and fairytale and the rare use of a newt in literature, amphibians play the role of strange and sometimes repulsive creatures. Frogs however have symbolised fertility, as in Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, while in Ancient China they were associated with healing and good fortune in business.
Amphibians in human culture | Introduction
Animals including many insects and mammals feature in mythology and religion. Among the insects, in both Japan and Europe, as far back as ancient Greece and Rome, a butterfly was seen as the personification of a person's soul, both while they were alive and after their death. The scarab beetle was sacred in ancient Egypt, while the praying mantis was considered a god in southern African Khoi and San tradition for its praying posture. Among the mammals, cattle, deer, horses, lions, bats bears, and wolves (including werewolves), are the subjects of myths and worship. Reptiles too, such as the crocodile, have been worshipped as gods in cultures including ancient Egypt and Hinduism.
Human uses of animals | In mythology and religion
Reptiles have appeared in literature since ancient times. Pliny the Elder, for instance, describes the legendary basilisk as a snake "twelve fingers in length". The animal reappears many times in Western literature, including in Isidore of Seville's medieval "Etymologiae", and more recently in J. K. Rowling's 1998 "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Among the many other reptiles in children's literature, Rudyard Kipling's story "How the Elephant got his Trunk" in his 1902 book "Just So Stories" features a crocodile who grips and stretches the elephant's nose. Turtles and tortoises feature in books for children and adults, from The Tortoise and the Hare in Aesop's Fables to Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise in Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Mr.
Human uses of reptiles | In literature
Dinosaurs have been widely depicted in culture since the English palaeontologist Richard Owen coined the name "dinosaur" in 1842. As soon as 1854, the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs were on display to the public in south London. One dinosaur appeared in literature even earlier, as Charles Dickens placed a "Megalosaurus" in the first chapter of his novel "Bleak House" in 1852. The dinosaurs featured in books, films, television programs, artwork, and other media have been used for both education and entertainment. The depictions range from the realistic, as in the television documentaries of the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century, or the fantastic, as in the monster movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
Reptile | In cultures and religions
By the early 21st century, vertebrate paleontologists were beginning to adopt phylogenetic taxonomy, in which all groups are defined in such a way as to be monophyletic; that is, groups which include all descendants of a particular ancestor. The reptiles as historically defined are paraphyletic, since they exclude both birds and mammals. These respectively evolved from dinosaurs and from early therapsids, which were both traditionally called reptiles. Birds are more closely related to crocodilians than the latter are to the rest of extant reptiles. Colin Tudge wrote: Mammals are a clade, and therefore the cladists are happy to acknowledge the traditional taxon Mammalia; and birds, too, are a clade, universally ascribed to the formal taxon Aves.
Reptile | Phylogenetics and modern definition
Reptiles in New Zealand were well known to Māori in pre-European times and featured in many carvings, some of which obviously depict tuatara and others which depict lizards. The body shape of many examples suggests that they are geckos, though skinks also seem to be depicted. With the exception of the Tuatara, which was frequently eaten, lizards were regarded with abhorrence by Māori and "Naultinus" in particular; sightings of "Naultinus" were regarded as bad omens.
Naultinus | In culture
The cleithrum disappeared early in the evolution of reptiles, and is not found in any living amniotes, but the interclavicle is present in most modern reptiles, and also in monotremes. In modern forms, however, there are a number of variations from the primitive pattern. For example, crocodilians and salamanders lack clavicles altogether (although crocodilians do retain the interclavicle), while in turtles, they form part of the armoured plastron. The interclavicle is absent in marsupials and placental mammals. In many mammals, the clavicles are also reduced, or even absent, to allow the scapula greater freedom of motion, which may be useful in fast-running animals.
Clavicle | Other animals
The ouroboros is a widely used symbol, claimed to be related to alchemy. It is depicted as a coiled snake eating its own tail, representing the cycle of life, death and rebirth. The snake is one of the 12 celestial animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Ancient Peruvian cultures often depicted snakes.
Human uses of reptiles | As symbols
After the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event wiped out all of the non-avian dinosaurs (birds are generally regarded as the surviving dinosaurs) and several mammalian groups, placental and marsupial mammals diversified into many new forms and ecological niches throughout the Paleogene and Neogene eras. Some reached enormous sizes and almost as wide a variation as the dinosaurs once did. Nevertheless, mammalian megafauna never quite reached the skyscraper heights of some sauropods. Nonetheless, large reptiles still composed important megafaunal components, such as giant tortoises, large crocodilians and, more locally, large varanids.
Evolution of reptiles | Role reversal
The position of the lizards and other Squamata among the reptiles was studied using fossil evidence by Rainer Schoch and Hans-Dieter Sues in 2015. Lizards form about 60% of the extant non-avian reptiles.
Lizard | External
As of 1995, the following reptile species are recorded as being present: the shingle back lizard and a species of dragon lizard.
Point Labatt | Fauna
Ethnoherpetology is the study of the past and present interrelationships between human cultures and reptiles and amphibians. It is a sub-field of ethnozoology, which in turn is a sub-field of ethnobiology. Snakes and amphibians have been considered chthonic creatures in many cultures. Richly represented in mythology, culture, art, and literature, they often evoke revulsion, fear, suspicion and awe, sometimes even hysteria. Frogs and toads were believed to announce the rains with their choruses.
Ethnoherpetology | Introduction
Crocodilians and rhynchocephalians (the latter represented solely by the tuatara, "Sphenodon") retain a quadratojugal. Turtles also seem to possess a quadratojugal. Among living amphibians, a quadratojugal is known to be present in some frogs and caecilians. However, it is notably absent in salamanders.
Quadratojugal bone | In reptiles and amphibians
Cladistically birds are considered reptiles, but according to traditional taxonomy they are listed separately. Saurischia includes extinct relatives of birds, the "lizard hipped" dinosaurs. See List of bird genera.
List of reptile genera | Order <a href="Saurischia">Saurischia</a>
The snake or serpent has played a powerful symbolic role in different cultures. In Egyptian history, the Nile cobra adorned the crown of the pharaoh. It was worshipped as one of the gods and was also used for sinister purposes: murder of an adversary and ritual suicide (Cleopatra). In America, the snake has served as a symbol of deceptiveness, as when US President Andrew Jackson told the Creek Nation in 1829 that he spoke with a straight tongue, not a forked one. Three medical symbols involving snakes, still used today, are the Bowl of Hygieia symbolizing pharmacy, and the Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius, symbols of medicine.
Human uses of reptiles | As symbols
The yahui appears in two main forms: the "nahual", or man-animal composite figure, and the animal figure. In the animal form, a reptilian head is combined with a tortoise shell body, reptilian arms and legs, claws and the flint-fire motif on the tips of the tail and nose. The animal yahui appears in cosmogony scenes illustrating the origins of ritual and cultural phenomena.
Yahui | Introduction
Cultural depictions of dinosaurs have been an important means of making scientific discoveries accessible to the public.
Human uses of reptiles | Depictions of dinosaurs
During the Carboniferous and Permian periods, some tetrapods started to evolve towards a reptilian condition. Some of these tetrapods (e.g. "Archeria", "Eogyrinus") were elongate, eel-like aquatic forms with diminutive limbs, while others (e.g. "Seymouria", "Solenodonsaurus", "Diadectes", "Limnoscelis") were so reptile-like that until quite recently they actually had been considered to be true reptiles, and it is likely that to a modern observer they would have appeared as large to medium-sized, heavy-set lizards. Several groups however remained aquatic or semiaquatic. Some of the chroniosuchians show the build and presumably habits of modern crocodiles and were probably also similar to crocodylians in that they were river-side predators.
Reptiliomorpha | Early reptiliomorphs
Today, turtles are the only predominantly herbivorous reptile group, but several lines of agamas and iguanas have evolved to live wholly or partly on plants. Herbivorous reptiles face the same problems of mastication as herbivorous mammals but, lacking the complex teeth of mammals, many species swallow rocks and pebbles (so called gastroliths) to aid in digestion: The rocks are washed around in the stomach, helping to grind up plant matter. Fossil gastroliths have been found associated with both ornithopods and sauropods, though whether they actually functioned as a gastric mill in the latter is disputed. Salt water crocodiles also use gastroliths as ballast, stabilizing them in the water or helping them to dive.
Reptile | Digestion
(2011). The taxonomy down to subclass level shown here is from Hildebrand and Goslow (2001): This classification is the one most commonly encountered in school textbooks and popular works. While orderly and easy to use, it has come under critique from cladistics. The earliest tetrapods are grouped under Class Amphibia, although several of the groups are more closely related to amniotes than to modern day amphibians. Traditionally, birds are not considered a type of reptile, but crocodiles are more closely related to birds than they are to other reptiles, such as lizards. Birds themselves are thought to be descendants of theropod dinosaurs.
Tetrapod | Modern classification
Many cultures have legends of creatures which are part human and part reptile. One of the first historical depictions of a reptilian humanoid was the Ancient Egyptian deity Sobek, who had the head of a crocodile. He was depicted with similar traits, such as being aggressive and animalistic. In South Asian and Southeast Asian mythology, the Nāga are semi-divine creatures which are half-human and half-serpent.
Reptilian humanoid | In mythology
Reptiles arose about 310–320 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. Reptiles, in the traditional sense of the term, are defined as animals that have scales or scutes, lay land-based hard-shelled eggs, and possess ectothermic metabolisms. So defined, the group is paraphyletic, excluding endothermic animals like birds and mammals that are descended from early reptiles. A definition in accordance with phylogenetic nomenclature, which rejects paraphyletic groups, includes birds while excluding mammals and their synapsid ancestors. So defined, Reptilia is identical to Sauropsida. Though few reptiles today are apex predators, many examples of apex reptiles have existed in the past. Reptiles have an extremely diverse evolutionary history that has led to biological successes, such as dinosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, and ichthyosaurs.
Evolution of reptiles | Introduction
The earliest amniotes, including stem-reptiles (those amniotes closer to modern reptiles than to mammals), were largely overshadowed by larger stem-tetrapods, such as "Cochleosaurus", and remained a small, inconspicuous part of the fauna until the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse. This sudden collapse affected several large groups. Primitive tetrapods were particularly devastated, while stem-reptiles fared better, being ecologically adapted to the drier conditions that followed. Primitive tetrapods, like modern amphibians, need to return to water to lay eggs; in contrast, amniotes, like modern reptiles – whose eggs possess a shell that allows them to be laid on land – were better adapted to the new conditions.
Reptile | Rise of the reptiles
Early in the period, the modern reptiles, or crown-group reptiles, evolved and split into two main lineages: the Archosauromorpha (forebears of turtles, crocodiles, and dinosaurs) and the Lepidosauromorpha (predecessors of modern lizards and tuataras). Both groups remained lizard-like and relatively small and inconspicuous during the Permian.
Reptile | Permian reptiles
Most reptiles are insectivorous or carnivorous and have simple and comparatively short digestive tracts due to meat being fairly simple to break down and digest. Digestion is slower than in mammals, reflecting their lower resting metabolism and their inability to divide and masticate their food. Their poikilotherm metabolism has very low energy requirements, allowing large reptiles like crocodiles and large constrictors to live from a single large meal for months, digesting it slowly. While modern reptiles are predominantly carnivorous, during the early history of reptiles several groups produced some herbivorous megafauna: in the Paleozoic, the pareiasaurs; and in the Mesozoic several lines of dinosaurs.
Reptile | Digestion
Reptiles often retain the primitive intercentra, which are present as small crescent-shaped bony elements lying between the bodies of adjacent vertebrae; similar structures are often found in the caudal vertebrae of mammals. In the tail, these are attached to chevron-shaped bones called haemal arches, which attach below the base of the spine, and help to support the musculature. These latter bones are probably homologous with the ventral ribs of fish. The number of vertebrae in the spines of reptiles is highly variable, and may be several hundred in some species of snake. In birds, there is a variable number of cervical vertebrae, which often form the only truly flexible part of the spine.
Vertebral column | Other vertebrates
In India, snake charming is a traditional roadside show. The snake charmer carries a basket that contains a snake to which he plays tunes from his flute, to which the snake appears to dance. Snakes respond to the movement of the flute, not the actual noise. In the Western world, a variety of reptiles including iguanas, turtles, and some snakes (especially docile species such as the ball python and corn snake) are kept as pets; pond turtles were already used as pets in Roman times. Reptiles have a strong capacity for learning and can be playful. They have specialised diets and require some skill to feed; many lizards and turtles are found on veterinary inspection to be suffering from metabolic bone disease, which can be caused by poor diet or lack of ultraviolet lighting.
Human uses of reptiles | For entertainment
The scales found in turtles and crocodiles are of dermal, rather than epidermal, origin and are properly termed scutes. In turtles, the body is hidden inside a hard shell composed of fused scutes. Lacking a thick dermis, reptilian leather is not as strong as mammalian leather. It is used in leather-wares for decorative purposes for shoes, belts and handbags, particularly crocodile skin.
Reptile | Skin
Tuatara are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Although resembling most lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. Their name derives from the Māori language, and means "peaks on the back". The single species of tuatara is the sole surviving member of its order, which originated in the Triassic period around 250 million years ago and which flourished during the Mesozoic era. Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the squamates (lizards and snakes). For this reason, tuatara are of interest in the study of the evolution of lizards and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids, a group of amniote tetrapods that also includes dinosaurs (including birds) and crocodilians.
Tuatara | Introduction
When Sauropsida was used, it often had the same content or even the same definition as Reptilia. In 1988, Jacques Gauthier proposed a cladistic definition of Reptilia as a monophyletic node-based crown group containing turtles, lizards and snakes, crocodilians, and birds, their common ancestor and all its descendants. While Gauthier's definition was close to the modern consensus, nonetheless, it became considered inadequate because the actual relationship of turtles to other reptiles was not yet well understood at this time. Major revisions since have included the reassignment of synapsids as non-reptiles, and classification of turtles as diapsids.
Reptile | Phylogenetics and modern definition
In all reptiles the urinogenital ducts and the anus both empty into an organ called a cloaca. In some reptiles, a midventral wall in the cloaca may open into a urinary bladder, but not all. It is present in all turtles and tortoises as well as most lizards, but is lacking in the monitor lizard, the legless lizards. It is absent in the snakes, alligators, and crocodiles. Many turtles, tortoises, and lizards have proportionally very large bladders. Charles Darwin noted that the Galapagos tortoise had a bladder which could store up to 20% of its body weight. Such adaptations are the result of environments such as remote islands and deserts where water is very scarce.
Reptile | Excretion
Reptilia provides reptiles along with skilled handlers for film productions, photo shoots, and television. Reptilia has provided reptiles for Guinness, Murdoch Mysteries, , YTV, Daily Planet, and other shows and productions.
Reptilia (zoo) | Film industry
But he allayed their anxieties by recounting his deeds of daring, and the tribe then partook of the remaining portions of the reptile's flesh, establishing thereby the custom of regarding snakes as a food source.
Yetimarala | Mythology
This part likely represents the deposits of an environment of estuaries, tidal flats or coastal plains. The climate would have been seasonal with both dry and humid periods. The most common vertebrates collected include ceratodontid lungfish, turtles, crocodiles, plesiosaurs, dinosaurs, lizards, snakes and mammals. Some of the snakes that have been found belong to the families Boidae and Madtsoidae, such as "Alamitophis argentinus". Turtles are represented by at least five taxa, four from Chelidae (Pleurodira) and one from Meiolaniidae (Cryptodira). Among the marine reptiles is the plesiosaur "Sulcusuchus erraini" of the family Polycotylidae. Mammals are represented by "Reigitherium bunodontum", which was considered the first record of a South American docodont, and "Argentodites coloniensis", possibly of Multituberculata.
Carnotaurus | Age and paleoecology
Male turtles and crocodiles have a penis, while male specimens of the reptile order Squamata have two paired organs called hemipenes. Tuataras must use their cloacae for reproduction. Due to evolutionary convergence, turtle and mammal penises have a similar structure. In some fish, the gonopodium, andropodium, and claspers are intromittent organs (to introduce sperm into the female) developed from modified fins.
Penis | Other vertebrates
Through the study of the lightly differentiated castings of the portions of the brain, it was assumed that D. Patagonica was a terrestrial reptile due to the level of development of the olfactory sensory bulb within the casted brain.
Dinilysia | Theories of Origin
In the 13th century the category of "reptile" was recognized in Europe as consisting of a miscellany of egg-laying creatures, including "snakes, various fantastic monsters, lizards, assorted amphibians, and worms", as recorded by Vincent of Beauvais in his "Mirror of Nature". In the 18th century, the reptiles were, from the outset of classification, grouped with the amphibians. Linnaeus, working from species-poor Sweden, where the common adder and grass snake are often found hunting in water, included all reptiles and amphibians in class "III – Amphibia" in his "Systema Naturæ". The terms "reptile" and "amphibian" were largely interchangeable, "reptile" (from Latin "repere", 'to creep') being preferred by the French.
Reptile | Research history
Archosaurs are a group of diapsid amniotes whose living representatives consist of birds and crocodilians. This group also includes all extinct dinosaurs, extinct crocodilian relatives, and pterosaurs.
List of reptile genera | Division <a href="Archosauria">Archosauria</a>
Reptilian humanoids, or anthropomorphic reptiles, appear in folklore, fiction, and conspiracy theories.
Reptilian humanoid | Introduction
Different authors linked these groups either to lepidosauromorphs or to archosauromorphs, and ichthyopterygians were also argued to be diapsids that did not belong to the least inclusive clade containing lepidosauromorphs and archosauromorphs.
Reptile | Mesozoic reptiles
Reptiles (Late Latin for "creeping" or "crawling") do not have an aquatic larval stage, and in this way are unlike amphibians. Most reptiles are oviparous, although several species of squamates are viviparous, as were some extinct aquatic clades — the fetus develops within the mother, contained in a placenta rather than an eggshell. As amniotes, reptile eggs are surrounded by membranes for protection and transport, which adapt them to reproduction on dry land. Many of the viviparous species feed their fetuses through various forms of placenta analogous to those of mammals, with some providing initial care for their hatchlings. Some reptiles are more closely related to birds than other reptiles, and many scientists prefer to make Reptilia a monophyletic group which includes the birds.
Marine vertebrate | Reptiles
The mud that the reptile was fossilized in is known to create well preserved insect and plant prints, allowing extrapolation about the surrounding environment. Because of fossil evidence of winged insects, the fruits of conifers, and other pteridosperms, "Petrolacosaurus" is thought to be a completely terrestrial reptile that lived in a conifer-fern forest. The front limb is 135mm and the back limb is 165mm, giving the reptile a length ratio of almost 1x as long as the dorsal-sacral region. "Petrolacosaurus" also has a zeugopodium in both its front and hind limbs that is longer than the stylopodium. In aquatic reptile species, a shorter zeugopodium and longer stylopodium are characteristic in fins.
Petrolacosaurus | Environment
Culture consists of the social behaviour and norms found in human societies and transmitted through social learning. Cultural universals in all human societies include expressive forms like art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing. The concept of material culture covers physical expressions such as technology, architecture and art, whereas immaterial culture includes principles of social organization, mythology, philosophy, literature, and science. This article describes the roles played by arthropods in human culture. The arthropods are a phylum of animals with jointed legs; they include the insects, arachnids such as spiders, myriapods, and crustaceans.
Arthropods in culture | Overview
Since reptiles, first rauisuchians and then dinosaurs, dominated the Mesozoic era, the interval is popularly known as the "Age of Reptiles". The dinosaurs also developed smaller forms, including the feather-bearing smaller theropods. In the Cretaceous period, these gave rise to the first true birds. The sister group to Archosauromorpha is Lepidosauromorpha, containing lizards and tuataras, as well as their fossil relatives. Lepidosauromorpha contained at least one major group of the Mesozoic sea reptiles: the mosasaurs, which lived during the Cretaceous period. The phylogenetic placement of other main groups of fossil sea reptiles – the ichthyopterygians (including ichthyosaurs) and the sauropterygians, which evolved in the early Triassic – is more controversial.
Reptile | Mesozoic reptiles
In lizards and snakes, males possess paired hemipenes, each of which is usually grooved to allow sperm transport and spiny or rough at the tip to allow firm attachment to the female. To become erect, a hemipenis is evaginated (turned inside out) through muscle action and engorgement with blood. Only one is inserted into the female's cloaca at a time. In reptiles, the phallus has an open sulcus instead of a closed urethral tube. In some turtles, crocodiles, some birds, and in all mammals, males possess a penis centered along the midline of the body. During copulation it becomes erect due to engorgement with blood or lymph, though in many animals it also contains a stiff or even bony support structure.
Intromittent organ | Tetrapods
Culture consists of the social behaviour and norms in human societies transmitted through social learning. Arthropods play many roles in human culture, including as food, in art, in stories, and in mythology and religion. Many of these concern insects, which are important both economically and symbolically, from the work of honeybees to the scarabs of Ancient Egypt. Other arthropods with cultural significance include crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters, and crayfish, which are popular subjects in art, especially still lifes, and arachnids such as spiders and scorpions, whose venom has medical applications. The crab and the scorpion are astrological signs of the zodiac.
Arthropods in culture | Introduction
The serpent wrapped itself around the Earth, acting as a support system for the planet after the world was created.
Agadzagadza | Reptile figures
The reptilian nervous system contains the same basic part of the amphibian brain, but the reptile cerebrum and cerebellum are slightly larger. Most typical sense organs are well developed with certain exceptions, most notably the snake's lack of external ears (middle and inner ears are present). There are twelve pairs of cranial nerves. Due to their short cochlea, reptiles use electrical tuning to expand their range of audible frequencies.
Reptile | Nerves
The most recent order of reptiles, squamates, are recognized by having a movable quadrate bone (giving them upper-jaw movement), possessing horny scales and hemipenes. They originate from the early Jurassic and are made up of the three suborders Lacertilia (paraphyletic), Serpentes, and Amphisbaenia. Although they are the most recent order, squamates contain more species than any of the other reptilian orders. Squamates are a monophyletic group included, with the Sphenodontia (e.g. tuataras), in the Lepidosauria. The latter superorder, together with some extinct animals like the plesiosaurs, constitute the Lepidosauromorpha, the sister infraclass to the group, the Archosauromorpha, that contains crocodiles, turtles, and birds.
Evolution of reptiles | Squamata
In 1969, Oklahoma designated its first state reptile when it chose the collared lizard.
Crotaphytus | Symbol
The broad, blunt cheek teeth show extensive wear associated with occlusion, and would have functioned as molars, grinding up the food. It also had a partial secondary palate, which meant it could chew its food and breathe at the same time, something many even more advanced reptiles were unable to do. These traits are likely adaptations related to the animals' high-fiber, herbivorous diet, and evolved independently of similar traits seen in some reptilian groups. Many of the reptile-like details of the postcranial skeleton are possibly related to carrying the substantial trunk; these may be independently derived traits on "Diadectes" and their relatives.
Diadectes | Paleobiology
Similar, earlier accounts describe monkeys exhibited to the public.
Hinduism and Judaism | Historical
The origin of the reptiles lies about 310–320 million years ago, in the steaming swamps of the late Carboniferous period, when the first reptiles evolved from advanced reptiliomorphs. The oldest known animal that may have been an amniote is "Casineria" (though it may have been a temnospondyl). A series of footprints from the fossil strata of Nova Scotia dated to show typical reptilian toes and imprints of scales. These tracks are attributed to "Hylonomus", the oldest unquestionable reptile known. It was a small, lizard-like animal, about long, with numerous sharp teeth indicating an insectivorous diet. Other examples include "Westlothiana" (for the moment considered a reptiliomorph rather than a true amniote) and "Paleothyris", both of similar build and presumably similar habit.
Reptile | Origin of the reptiles
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines characterized by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs and acting as a shield.
List of reptile genera | Order <a href="Turtle">Testudinata</a> (turtles)
Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti was the first to formally use the term "Reptilia" for an expanded selection of reptiles and amphibians basically similar to that of Linnaeus. Today, the two groups are still commonly treated under the single heading herpetology. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that it became clear that reptiles and amphibians are, in fact, quite different animals, and Pierre André Latreille erected the class "Batracia" (1825) for the latter, dividing the tetrapods into the four familiar classes of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. The British anatomist Thomas Henry Huxley made Latreille's definition popular and, together with Richard Owen, expanded Reptilia to include the various fossil "antediluvian monsters", including dinosaurs and the mammal-like (synapsid) "Dicynodon" he helped describe.
Reptile | Research history
this animals represents structure of the ancestral coelenterate.
Tubularia | Introduction
KIAA1257 is found in all vertebrates except for cartilaginous and jawless fishes. KIAA1257 orthologs in birds, fish, and reptiles have 30-40% identity with humans while mammals such as goats, cats, and dogs have 60-70% identity and primates have 85-99% identity. Table 3
KIAA1257 | Homology
Mammalia and Aves are, in fact, subclades within the grand clade of the Amniota. But the traditional class Reptilia is not a clade. It is just a section of the clade Amniota: the section that is left after the Mammalia and Aves have been hived off. It cannot be defined by synapomorphies, as is the proper way. Instead, it is defined by a combination of the features it has and the features it lacks: reptiles are the amniotes that lack fur or feathers. At best, the cladists suggest, we could say that the traditional Reptilia are 'non-avian, non-mammalian amniotes'. Despite the early proposals for replacing the paraphyletic Reptilia with a monophyletic Sauropsida, which includes birds, that term was never adopted widely or, when it was, was not applied consistently.
Reptile | Phylogenetics and modern definition
This list of fictional reptiles is subsidiary to the list of fictional animals and is a collection of various notable reptilian characters that appear in various works of fiction. It is limited to well-referenced examples of reptiles in literature, film, television, comics, animation, video games and mythology, organized by species.
List of fictional reptiles | Introduction
Semiaquatic forms are widely distributed among extant and extinct reptiles, and extinct semiaquatic or fully aquatic marine forms were once ecologically prominent.
List of semiaquatic tetrapods | Other reptiles
Originally not included in the movie, Reptile was added in response to focus groups being unimpressed with the original fights in the film. Actor Robin Shou (Liu Kang) and director Paul Anderson noted that neither knew what Reptile's lizard form would look like until after filming, making the pre-fight sequence difficult to shoot. The 1998 television series "" features Reptile in his human form, portrayed by Jon Valera. Commander of Shao Kahn's Raptors, he betrays Kahn and forms an alliance with Kreeya to share dominion over Kahn's domain and serve as one of her mates, only to be killed later during an ambush by Shao Kahn's priests.
Reptile (Mortal Kombat) | Other media
According to the laws of "Kashrut" ("Kosher"), the turtle is considered "impure" and cannot be eaten. Back when the Jews still had the temple, when a woman completed her period, she had to give two pigeons and two turtles to a Kohen, a priest. The exact passage from the Torah is: In this case, however, the "turtle" referred to is a "turtle-dove," a kosher bird, and not a reptile. Reptiles, according to Leviticus, are never kosher for eating or for sacrifice. Tortoises were regarded as unclean and often symbolized evil and darkness: “There also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind” (Leviticus 11: 29)
Cultural depictions of turtles | Judaism
Fossils found in Germany indicate that "Saltoposuchus" existed in Europe, or more appropriately, Laurasia. The Mesozoic Era has been regarded as "The Age of Reptiles" so "Saltoposuchus" lived among many different species including the earliest species of pterosaurs and other bipedal reptilians. Archosaurs, the ancestor to Crocodylomorpha, made its first appearance in the middle of the Triassic era. This is also the period in which the earliest mammals started appearing. Therapsids dominated the Early - Middle Triassic Period, but as time went on, therapsids started becoming extinct and archosaurs became the dominant group of reptiles. After the Permian–Triassic extinction event wiped out 90% of species in the world, conifer forests started to recover, species started occupying and thriving in newly found ecological niches, Pangaea started splitting into Laurasia and Gondwana, and the air was very arid with hot summers and cold winters.
Saltoposuchus | Geographical/Historical Information
Culture consists of the social behaviour and norms found in human societies and transmitted through social learning. Cultural universals in all human societies include expressive forms like art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing. The concept of material culture covers physical expressions such as technology, architecture and art, whereas immaterial culture includes principles of social organization, mythology, philosophy, literature, and science. This article describes the roles played by amphibians in human culture, so defined.
Amphibians in human culture | Context
The incident was reported along with a photo of the dead reptile in 'Aaj' Urdu language newspaper published from the provincial capital Peshawar on September 10, 2019. Originally, the type locality was listed only as "Oriente." However, Flower (1933) proposed "Egypt" by way of clarification.
Cerastes cerastes | Distribution and habitat
Centaurs appear often in popular culture.
Centaurs in popular culture | Introduction
"Tratayenia" lived in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation alongside many lizards and turtles, the snake species "Dinilysia patagonica", many birds such as "Patagopteryx deferrariisi", a diverse amount of crocodylomorphs and many dinosaurs such as "Viavenator exxoni" and "Traukutitan eocaudata".
Tratayenia | Paleoecology
Reptiles (Late Latin for "creeping" or "crawling") do not have an aquatic larval stage, and in this way are unlike amphibians. Most reptiles are oviparous, although several species of squamates are viviparous, as were some extinct aquatic clades — the fetus develops within the mother, contained in a placenta rather than an eggshell. As amniotes, reptile eggs are surrounded by membranes for protection and transport, which adapt them to reproduction on dry land. Many of the viviparous species feed their fetuses through various forms of placenta analogous to those of mammals, with some providing initial care for their hatchlings. Some reptiles are more closely related to birds than other reptiles, and many scientists prefer to make Reptilia a monophyletic group which includes the birds.
Marine life | Reptiles
The Torah does not classify animals under modern scientific categories of mammals, fish, reptiles and birds. Rather, the religious categories are land-dwelling animals (land mammals, flightless birds, and land reptiles, etc.), flying animals (birds, insects, flying mammals such as bats), and water-bound animals (fish, mammals such as whales, reptiles such as sea snakes, crustaceans, mollouscs, etc.). Given that each of these religious categories of animals includes species of at least two or more of each scientific categories of animals, there is no general kashrut rules relating per se to mammals, birds, reptiles, or fish. However, rules for each of these class of animals can be extrapolated from the biblical requirements.
Unclean animal | Classification of animals
Crocodilians have had prominent roles in the myths and legends of various cultures around the world and may even have inspired stories of dragons. In Ancient Egyptian religion, Ammit, the demoniac devourer of unworthy souls, and Sobek, the god of power, protection, and fertility, are both represented as having crocodile heads. This reflects the Egyptians' view of the crocodile both as a terrifying predator and an important part of the Nile ecosystem. The crocodile was one of several animals that the Egyptians mummified. Crocodiles were also associated with various water deities by peoples of West Africa. During the Benin Empire, crocodiles were considered the "policemen of the waters" and symbolised the power of the king or "oba" to punish wrongdoers.
Crocodilia | In mythology, religion, and folklore
All other living tetrapods (reptiles, birds and mammals) are descended from one branch of reptiliomorphs, the amniotes. Amniotes achieved dominance, while all other reptiliomorphs and most batrachomorphs have gone extinct.
Batrachomorpha | Introduction
Reptiles are almost all sexually dimorphic, and exhibit internal fertilization through the cloaca. Some reptiles lay eggs while others are ovoviviparous (animals that deliver live young). Reproductive organs are found within the cloaca of reptiles. Most male reptiles have copulatory organs, which are usually retracted or inverted and stored inside the body. In turtles and crocodilians, the male has a single median penis-like organ, while male snakes and lizards each possess a pair of penis-like organs.
Reproductive system | Reptiles
Basal non-mammalian synapsids ("mammal-like reptiles") traditionally also sort under Class Reptilia as a separate subclass, but they are more closely related to mammals than to living reptiles. Considerations like these have led some authors to argue for a new classification based purely on phylogeny, disregarding the anatomy and physiology.
Tetrapod | Modern classification