Knowra Lepidosauria Lepidosauria Lepidosauria is the reptile clade containing squamates, tuatara, and their extinct relatives. Its living members include lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians.
Squamata : The reptile order containing lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians. This is the largest living branch of Lepidosauria.
Ecdysis : The periodic shedding of an animal's outer covering, including skin or an exoskeleton. Lepidosaurs renew their outer epidermal layer through this process.
Lepidosauromorpha : The reptile lineage that includes Lepidosauria and its closer extinct relatives. This broader grouping places lepidosaurs among early reptile branches.
Snake locomotion : The diverse ways snakes move, including lateral undulation, concertina motion, and sidewinding. Snake movement illustrates how squamates evolved locomotion without limbs.
Archosauria : A major reptile clade containing crocodilians, dinosaurs, and birds. Archosaurs are the closest major living reptile lineage outside Lepidosauria.
Tuatara : A New Zealand reptile, the sole living representative of Rhynchocephalia. It preserves a living example of lepidosaur anatomy outside Squamata.
Kinetic skull : A skull with movable joints between bones, allowing parts of the skull to shift during feeding. Skull mobility is pronounced in many squamates and shapes how they capture prey.
Rhynchocephalia : A reptile order whose only living representative is the tuatara. Its fossil diversity documents a once much broader lepidosaur branch.
Lizard regeneration : The ability of many lizards to regrow a lost tail, often with a different internal structure. Tail regrowth is a studied adaptation among living lepidosaurs.
Testudines : The reptile order containing turtles and tortoises. Turtles are another major reptile lineage, distinct from lepidosaurs.
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