Tuatara
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Pronunciation /tuːəˈtɑːɹə/ · Part of speech noun
Quick meaning: Tuatara is a noun meaning A reptile, Sphenodon punctatus, native to New Zealand, that resembles a lizard and is the only surviving specimen of the order Rhynchocephalia.
Meaning
A reptile, Sphenodon punctatus, native to New Zealand, that resembles a lizard and is the only surviving specimen of the order Rhynchocephalia.
Example Sentences
In New Zealand the dinosaurs had perished 65 million years before, as they had elsewhere on the globe; but the sphenodons or tuataras who had been their contemporaries from Jurassic times persisted, in New Zealand but nowhere else, for reasons that remain obscure.
Word Forms
- tuataras
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include lizard, tuatera, sphenodontian, sphenodontine, sphenodontid, sphenodont.
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Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.