REPTILES

The Reptilia is a disjunct group of pentadactyl tetrapod* vertebrates that are best diagnosed by what they do not possess. They do not possess slimy permiable skins so they are no Amphibians (also unlike amphibians, reptiles, birds and monotremes possess a cleidoic or amniotic egg, an egg with a protective shell containing an amniotic membrane which negates the requirement to return to water to reproduce).

They do not possess feathers and therefore are not Birds, nor fur which means they are not Mammals. All other pentadactyl tetrapod terrestrial vertebrates are lumped into the "Reptilia" even though they are not closely related. In fact Turtles and Tortoises are almost as far removed from other Reptiles as are the Mammal-like Reptiles which evolved into Modern Mammals, and Dinosaurs, Birds and Crocodilians are more closely related to each other, than Crocodilians are to Lizards and Snakes.

The Reptilia is what might be called a 'dustbin' taxa, a dumping ground for taxa whose relationships have not been fully determined, but for the purposes of these pages, the term Reptile will be used to include the Testudines (turtles and tortoises), Archosauria which contains the living Crocodylia (crocodiles and alligators), and Lepidosauria which contains the living Rhynchocephalia (beaked reptiles) and Squamata (scaled reptiles).

* pentadactyl = five fingered/toed; tetrapod = four-legged, the basic terrestrial vertebrate blue-print although many groups have evolved towards digit or limb reduction or loss, ie. snakes.

The Reptilia, as so diagnosed, contains 73 extant (living) families** ie. Testudines = 14 families; Crocodylia = 3 families; Rhynchocephalia = 1 family, and Squamata = 55 familes. The O'Shea photo library contains representatives from 13, 3, 1 and 43 families respectively, as indicated by the X in the third columns below.

** authorites differ greatly with regards to the higher taxonomy, within the Squamata especially, so this figure represents only one school of phylogenetic thought.

Click on the family name below to view which species are represented in the photo library.
It will be some time before all families are listed on this site.

TESTUDINES
SHELLED REPTILES

Chelydridae Snapping Turtles	Carettochelyidae Fly River Turtle	Chelidae Australo-American Side-necked Turtles
ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE Macrochelys temmincki Black Bayou, Louisiana	FLY-RIVER TURTLE Carettochelys insculpta Southern New Guinea	MATA MATA Chelus fimbriatus Simone Creek, Rupununi River, Guyana
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ARCHOSAURIA
ANCIENT REPTILES

Alligatoridae Alligators & Caiman	Crocodylidae Crocodiles	Gavialidae Gavials
AMERICAN ALLIGATOR Alligator mississippiensis Loxahatchee National Refuge, Florida	ESTUARINE CROCODILE Crocodylus porosus Moitaka, NCD, Papua New Guinea	GANGES GHARIAL Gavialis gangeticus Chisapani Gorge, Karnali River, Nepal
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LEPIDOSAURIA
SCALED REPTILES

Sphenodontidae Tuataras

TUATARA Sphenodon punctatus New Zealand

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Iguanidae Iguanas	Diplodactylidae Southern Geckos	Gekkonidae True Geckos
SAN ESTEBAN SPINY-TAILED IGUANA Ctenosaura hemilopha conspicuosa Isla San Esteban, Sea or Cortez, Sonora, Mexico	FRINGE-TOED VELVET GECKO Oedura filicipoda Hunter River gorge, Kimberley, Western Australia	TOKAY GECKO Gekko gecko gecko Same, Ainaro, Timor-Leste
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Bipedidae Ajolates	Cordylidae Zonures & Their Allies	Varanidae Monitor Lizards
FIVE-TOED AJOLATE Bipes biporus La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico	LARGE-SCALED GRASS LIZARD Chamaesaura macrolepis macrolepis Mkuze, KwaZulu Natal, S.Africa	KOMODO DRAGON Varanus komodoensis Rinca Is., Komodo Is., Indonesia
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Typhlopidae Blindsnakes	Boidae Boas	Pythonidae Pythons
DE LALANDE'S BEAKED BLINDSNAKE Rhinotyphlops lalandei GeogapNature Reserve, Northern Cape, S.Africa	AMAZONIAN RAINBOW BOA Epicrates cenchria Ilha Maraca, Roraima, Brazil	NORTHERN GREEN TREE PYTHON Morelia azureus Riwo, Madang Prov., Papua New Guinea
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Natricidae Keelbacks	Elapidae Cobras and Their Allies	Viperidae Vipers
BARRED GRASS SNAKE Natrix natrix helvetica Stourport, Worcs., UK	HORNED SEASNAKE Acalyptophis peroni Hibernia Reef, Timor Sea, Western Australia	EYELASH PALM-PITVIPER Bothriechis schlegelii Parque Vivorana, Turrialba, Costa Rica
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