SPHENODON

The Sphenodon is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a

distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of Sphenodon are the only surviving members of its order, which
flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common ancestor with any other extant group is with the 
squamates  (lizards and snakes) . For this reason, Sphenodon are of great interest in the study of the evolution of lizards
and snakes, and for the reconstruction of the appearance and habits of the earliest diapsids (the group that also
includes birds and crocodiles).
Geographic Range
The two recognized species of Sphenodon (Sphenodon punctatus andSphenodon guntheri) are found on
approximately 30 small, relatively inaccesible, islands off the coast of New Zealand. The species was once widely
distributed throughout New Zealand, but became extinct on the mainland before the arrival of European settlers.
Habitat
The geographic range which the Sphenodon inhabits is a difficult niche for any species, particularly a reptile. The
islands are generally cliff-bound, frequently exposed to strong winds, and support a natural, often stunted, vegetation
of salt and wind tolerant species. Most islands are also home to several species of sea birds, whose nutrient-rich guano
helps support the island's ecosystem. The habitat is cold and damp, with temperatures rarely exceeding 70 degrees
Fahrenheit, and a humidity level of about 80 percent.
Behavoiur
Sphenodons live singly in burrows, which they sometimes defend. Males combat each other, inflating their
bodies, elevating their crests, and darkening the skin between the shoulders and neck crest. Males also approach
females in this manner prior to breeding. Sphenodons are most active at night, but occasionally bask at the entrance to
their burrows if it is sunny.
Adult Sphenodon are terrestrial and nocturnal reptiles, though they will often bask in the sun to warm their
bodies. Hatchlings hide under logs and stones, and are diurnal, likely because adults are cannibalistic. Sphenodon
thrive in temperatures much lower than those tolerated by most reptiles, and hibernate during winter.
Food Habits
Diet consist of arthropods, earthworms, snails, bird eggs, small birds, frogs, and lizards, and a native cricket-like
insect the size of a mouse called a weta. Young Sphenodons are also occasionally cannibalized. Due to its low metabolic
rate, the Sphenodon eats much less frequently than other reptiles.
Physical Description
Dentition
Their dentition, in which two rows of teeth in the upper jaw overlap one row on the lower jaw, is unique among
living species.
Morphological characters
They are able to hear although no external ear is present, and have a number of unique features in their skeleton,
some of them apparently evolutionarily retained from fish. Although Sphenodon are sometimes called "living fossils",
recent taxonomic and molecular work has shown that they have changed significantly since the Mesozoic era.
The Sphenodon is considered the most unspecialised living amniote; the brain and mode of locomotion resemble
that of amphibians and the heart is more primitive than that of any other reptile. Their lungs have a single chamber and
lack bronchi. Both species are sexually dimorphic, males being larger. Adult S. punctatus males measure 61 cm (24 in)
in length and females 45 cm
The Sphenodon's greenish brown colour matches its environment, and can change over its lifetime. Sphenodon
shed their skin at least once per year as adults, and three or four times a year as juveniles. Sphenodon sexes differ in
more than size. The spiny crest on a Sphenodon's back, made of triangular soft folds of skin, is larger in males, and can
be stiffened for display. The male abdomen is narrower than the female's.
Skull
In the course of evolution, the skull has been modified in most diapsids from the original version evident in the
fossil record. However, all the original features are preserved in that of the Sphenodon; it has two openings (temporal
fenestra) on each side of the skull, with complete arches. In addition, the upper jaw is firmly attached to the skull. This
makes for a very rigid, inflexible construction. 
Spine and ribs
The Sphenodon spine is made up of hour-glass shaped amphicoelous vertebrae, concave both before and behind. This is
the usual condition of fish vertebrae and some amphibians, but is unique to Sphenodon within the amniotes.
The Sphenodon has gastralia, rib-like bones also called gastric or abdominal ribs, the presumed ancestral trait
of diapsids. They are found in some lizards, where they are mostly made of cartilage, as well as crocodiles and the
Sphenodon, and are not attached to the spine or thoracic ribs. The true ribs are small projections, with small, hooked
bones, called uncinate processes, found on the rear of each rib. This feature is also present in birds. The Sphenodon is
the only living tetrapod with well developed gastralia and uncinate processes.
lizards, as is the case with other parts of the internal anatomy and its scales.

Tail and back

The spiny plates on the back and tail of the Sphenodon resemble those of a crocodile more than a lizard, but has the
latter reptile's ability to break off when caught by a predator, and then regenerate. The tail and back are covered with
spiny plates that, too, resemble modern crocodiles more than they do those of a lizard.
Sensory organs
The eyes can focus independently, and are specialized with a duplex retina that contains two types of visual cells for
both day and night vision, and a tapetum lucidum which reflects on to the retina to enhance vision in the dark. There is
also a third eyelid on each eye, the nictitating membrane.The Sphenodon has a third eye on the top of its head called
the parietal eye. It has its own lens, cornea, retina with rod-like structures, and degenerated nerve connection to the
brain, suggesting it evolved from a real eye. The parietal eye is only visible in hatchlings, which have a translucent patch
at the top centre of the skull.
Together with turtles, the Sphenodon has the most primitive hearing organs among the amniotes. There is
no eardrum and no earhole, and the middle ear cavity is filled with loose tissue, mostly adipose (fatty) tissue.
Reproduction:
Sphenodon reproduce very slowly, taking ten years to reach sexual maturity. Mating occurs in midsummer;
females mate and lay eggs once every four years. During courtship, a male makes his skin darker, raises his crests, and
parades toward the femaleMales do not have a penis; they reproduce by the male lifting the tail of the female and
placing his vent over hers. The sperm is then transferred into the female, much like the mating process in birds.
Sphenodon eggs have a soft, parchment-like shell. It takes the females between one and three years to provide
eggs with yolk, and up to seven months to form the shell. It then takes between 12 and 15 months from copulation to
hatching. This means reproduction occurs at two- to five-year intervals, the slowest in any reptile.
The sex of a hatchling depends on the temperature of the egg, with warmer eggs tending to produce male
Sphenodon, and cooler eggs producing females. Eggs incubated at 21 °C (70 °F) have an equal chance of being male or
female.
Sphenodon probably have the slowest growth rates of any reptile, continuing to grow larger for the first 35 years
of their lives.[  The average lifespan is about 60 years, but they can live to be well over 100 years old.[5] Some experts
believe that captive Sphenodon could live as long as 200 years.
It takes between 10 and 20 years for a Sphenodon to reach sexual maturity. The female, on average, lays between
5 and 18 eggs only once every 4 years, the longest reproductive cycle of any reptile. Mating occurs from mid-summer to
early autumn (January-March) and the eggs are laid the following spring or early summer (October-December).
Incubation takes from 12 to 15 months, with the development of the embryo stopping during the winter months. Thus,
a hatchling Sphenodon would have been conceived over two years earlier. The male is devoid of any external sex
organs, and copulation is achieved by a meeting of the cloacal regions in what is known as a "cloacal kiss."
Affinities
The Sphenodon is the only living descendent of the order of reptiles known as Rhynchocephalia. This fact
distinguishes it from all other modern day reptiles. Rhynchocephalians were a much larger order of reptiles a few
hundred million years ago, with a considerable number of species during the Triassic period. All except for the
Sphenodon apparently went extinct around 60 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous period. The Sphenodon has
been falsely called a living fossil. Though very similar to its extinct ancestors, it has developed features unique to its
own modern species. As well, it has been likened to a living dinosaur, due to its diapsid skull and other anatomical
features shared with prehistoric reptilians.

BITING MECHANISM OF SNAKES;
POISON APPARATUS:
STRUCTIRE
The poison apparatus consists of a pair of poison glands,their ducts and a pair of fangs.The poison glands are situated
one on either of the upper jaw.The poison glands are possibly the superior labial glands or parotid glands.Each poison gland is
sac-like and provided with a narrow duct at its anterior end.The duct passes forward along the side of the upper jaw and loops
over itself just in front of the fang opens either at the base of the fang or at the base of the tunnel of the fang.The poison gland is
held in position by ligaments. An anterior ligament attaches the anterior end of the gland to nthe maxilla.A posterior ligaments
extends between the gland and the quadrate.Fan-shaped ligaments are situated between the side walls and squamosa-quadrate
junction.The fangs are sharply pointed and are enlarged maxillary teeth.The fangs regenerate when lost.There are two types of
fangs : Open type and Closed type.
In open type as in cobras the poison groove is open and in closed type as in vipers, the poison groove forms a tunnel
having two openings one at the base abd one near the apex.
The poison apparatus is associated with specialised bands of three types of muscles viz. 1)digastric 2)sphenopterygoid or
protactor-pterygoid and 3)anterior and posterior temporalis.
Digastric muscles is attached to the squamousal of the skull at one end and the articular of the lower jaw.
Sphenopterygoid is attached anteriorly to the sphenoidal region and posteriorly to the dorsl surface of the pterygoid.It helps in
pulling the pterygoid forward.
Anterior and posterior temporalis muscles are attached to the side walls of the cranium of the lower jaw.They help in closing
the lower jaw.
BITING MECHANISM :
The machanism of bitting is a complicated process and it can be described in the following three steps :
1)Opening of the mouth : By the contraction of the digastric muscles the mouth is opened.
2)Rotation of maxilla : As the mouth opens the lower jaw moves forward and a rotation of the squamosal , quadrate and
mandible in relation to each other occurs. Now the sphenopterygoid muscles contract.This contraction results in the forward
movement of pterygoid and up-pushing of the ectopterygoid. The upward movement of the ectopterygoid brings about a
rotation of maxilla on its own axis round the lacrymal and as a result the fang is raised and becomes directed forward.The fang
is nearly horizontal in position when the mouth remains closed.But during opening of the mouth to bite, the fang assumes
almost vertical position.
3) Closing of mouth : The closing of the mouth is brought about by the contraction of the temporalis and sphenopterygoid
muscles.The point of fang is directed backward while the mouth is closed.It takes longer time to open the mouth then to close it.
TRANSFERENCE OF VENOM
During the contraction of the digastric muscles the posterior ligament is relaxed and during the rotation of the squamosal bone
the fan-shaped ligaments are stretched to squeeze the wall of the poison gland. This makes the poison to come out of the poison
gland through the poison duct and the fang.

difference between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes :

The majority of snakes are non-poisonous and harmless animals.Some of the common poisonous snakes of india are :
Cobra , King Cobra,Krait, Pit Viper, Indian Viper, Rattle snake, Russel’s Snake, Coral Snake and Sea-snake.The identification of
poisonous and non-poisonous snakes is very simple.The following key will serve to distinguish poisonous snakes and non-
poisonous snakes :
 If it is a marine snake with a tail laterally compressed ; it is poisonous snake
 In a terestrial snake the tail is rounded or cylindrical and not compressed.Examine its ventral scales
 If all the ventral scales are small or the vental scales are somewhat broad,then its non-poisonous snake
 If the ventral scales are large transverse plates extending fully across the vental side or belly, the snake may be
poisonous or non-poisonous.To find out examine the dorsal surface of the head.
a) If all the dorsal scales of the head are small,then it may be a viper .
 If there a loreal pit between the nostril and eyes,then it’s a pi-viper
 If the sub-caudals are double and there is a loreal pi then it’s a Russel’s viper
b) If dorsal side of the head has both small scales and large shields,the snake may or maynot be poisonous,To
ascertain look at the side of the head
 If the 3rd supra-labial shield touches the nostril & eye then it is a poisonous snake,may be cobra,king cobra or coral snake.
 If the upper side of the head has both small scales and large shields but there is no loral pit and the 3 rd supra-labial shield
doesnot touch the eye,then examine the back of the snake and ventral side of the lower jaw.
 The middle row of the scales on the back called vertebrals may be large than other
 Ventral side of lower jaw has 4th infra labial shield larger than the others.If both these characters are present,then
it is a Krait
 If the snake has small scale and large shield on the head but doesnot has the character of cobra,Krait or Coral snake Then
it’s a non-poisonous snake