# Tuataras Found in New Zealand

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuataras-found-in-new-zealand/470429>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 31, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuataras-found-in-new-zealand/470429 "2008-10-31T14:40:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tuataras-found-in-new-zealand/470429/1 "2008-10-31T14:40:38Z")

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[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081031/ap\_on\_sc/as\_new\_zealand\_rare\_reptile](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081031/ap_on_sc/as_new_zealand_rare_reptile)  
This article had me confused. I aalways thought of the tuatara as “the lizardlike creature found in New Zealand”. I didn’t realize it hadn’t actually been on the island (as far as we know) for some two hundred years.

As the artiicle goes on to say (and the Wiki article says), this is apparently the result of a deliberately-established collony on “the mainland”. It’s not as if they had to swim over from other islands.

> **[Tuatara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatara)**
>
> Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name tuatara is derived from the Māori language and means "peaks on the back".
> The single extant species of tuatara is the only surviving member of its order. Rhynchocephalians originated during the Triassic (~250 million years ago), reached worldwide distribution and peak diversity during the Jurassic and, with t...