reptiles of nearctic region
TRANSCRIPT
Reptiles of Nearctic region
Presented By:-
Maryam Riasat
Roll no:-
26237
BS Zoology (7th Semester – Morning)
Nearctic Region:- North America, the planet's 3rd largest continent
Made up of 23 different countries
Contains all Caribbean and Central America countries, Bermuda,Canada, Mexico, the United States of America, as well as Greenland (theworld's largest island)
North American continent up to the middle of Mexico
Climate is temperate
There are grasslands in the middle of the continent
Western part is arid with mountains and coniferous forests
The isthmus of panama connects North America & South America Separates the caribbean sea & the pacific ocean
The Nearctic Region is divided into four subregions:- Arctic
Circumboreal
Western American
Eastern American
The first two are common to the Palearcticthe last two are often united in the Sonoran subregion
NearcticRegion fauna:-
Nearctic region includes Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds and
Mammals
Reptiles of Nearctic region:-Rich number of Reptiles like:-
Musk turtle
Snapping turtles
Box turtle
Gopher tortoises
Garter snakes
Geckos
Horned lizards
Legless lizard
Gila monster
Endemic Reptiles:-
Gila monster
Gopher tortoises
Legless lizard
Garter snakes
Horned lizards / Horned toads
Gila monster:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Family Helodermatidae
Genus Heloderma
Species H. suspectum
Characteristics:-
Heavy bodied lizards
Osteoderms – scales or plates (black and yellow or pink)
Burrows
Avoid open areas
Carnivores
Do not have very good eyesight
For hunting use their senses of taste and smell.
Prey includes bird’s eggs, rodents, frogs, lizards, insects, centipedes andworms
Breeding season for Gila monsters is usually in early summer
Female digs a hole lays a clutch of large eggs in the hole andcovers them.
Venomous
Venom is made by a row of glands in the lizard’s lower jaw
Bite is painful to humans but it rarely causes death
Gopher tortoises:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Testudines
Family Testudinidae
Genus Gopherus
Species G. polyphemus
Characteristics:-
Cold blooded reptile averages 25cm long and 4kg in weight.
Extremely long lived animals
Wild tortoises (40 - 60 years)
Limbs very stout and strong
Claws wide flat
Front legs are protected with small scales
Female’s plastrons perfectly flat.
Male plastron concave
Or a projection on the front of the plastron underneath the chin.
Reproductive maturity 10 to 20 years
Average of 6 eggs but can lay from 3 to 14 eggs depending on their body size
Incubation period 90 days
Herbivorous
Eat bones from dead animals presumably to get calcium
Temperature-dependent sex determination
Females above 30° C
Males below 30° C
Ecosystem Engineers:-
Florida panhandle 65 feet long and 26 feet deep
California Legless Lizard:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordate
Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Family Anniellidae
Genus Anniella
Species A. pulchra
Characteristics:-
Burrows in loose soil
Mistaken for snakes
Lack external ear openings and have unreduced eyes with moveable lids.
Snout to vent length 90 to 170 mm
Total length 200 mm.
Females are slightly larger than males by up to 10%
Sexes are nearly impossible to distinguish without dissection.
Color varies with subspecies.
Anniella pulchra newborn silvery drab color on their dorsal side and various shades of yellow on the ventral side.
Adults from brown to dark brown to completely black.
Heterothermic (21° C and 28° C)
Breeding season between the spring months
Ovoviviparous, mature at 2 (males) & 3 years (females) of age.
Able to lose their tail Regenerate of about one year but will be much shorter, darker,
and more blunt than the original.
Garter snakes:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordate
Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Family Colubridae
Genus Thamnophis
Species T. sirtalis
long slender snake with a colorful and extremely variable appearance.
Upper stripes range from black, brown or grey to green, olive or red
Male smaller and slender with longer tail
Diurnal
Venomous
Saliva slightly toxic.
Bite harmless to humans.
Characteristics:-
Prey includes:-
(fish, amphibians and their tadpoles, earthworms, leeches, andother aquatic and terrestrial Invertebrates such as insects, slugs)
Pheromonal communication
Ovoviviparous (able to store the sperms for years beforefertilization)
Gestation period two to three months few
3 < 80 snakes are born in a single litter.
Horned lizards / Horned toads:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Family Lguanidae
Genus Phrynosoma
Species P. hernandesi
P. platyrhinos
Distribution:-
Most widely distributed lizard in North America and occurs inthe widest range of habitats
West into central Nevada - East into North and South Dakota
South into the Texas and into central Mexico
Characteristics:- Size 2.5 to 6 inches
Crown of horns on head & numerous spines across their back
Coloring yellowish, gray, or reddish-brown
Tail is short but broad at the base
Feed slow-moving insects (ants, grasshoppers, beetles, & spiders
Environments hot, dry, sandy
In the fall, they hibernate by burying themselves in the sand
Mating occurs in late April peaks in June and stops abruptly in July
Young are called hatchlings 7 to 8 inches long
Life span 5 to 8 years
Defensive mechanisms:-
Inflating their bodies up to twice their size, resembling a spiny balloon
Shoot blood from their eyes up to 3 feet
Geckos:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordate
Class Reptilia
Order Squamata
Family Gekkonidae
Genus Hemidactylus
Species H. frenatus
Distribution:-Geckos are found on every continent except Antarctica,
and live in almost every habitat, including rain forests, deserts and mountains
In the United States can be found in Georgia, Florida, California, Mississippi, and Texas
Characteristics:- 1500 to 2000 species
Wide range of sizes
Smallest gecko 0.6 inches
Weighs 120 milligrams
Largest gecko 14 to 17 inches
Weighs 212 to 279 grams
Wide variety of colors with markings on their bodies
(Tan, Black, Brown, White, Green, Blue, Orange, Yellow)
Detach their tails
Lack movable eyelids and have characteristic pads on theundersides of their feet
Microscopic backward-projecting hairs
Life Span 2-9 years
Lifestyle Solitary
Nocturnal
Diet fruits, insects and flower nectar.
Gecko's tail saves fat
Oviparous
Lays her eggs in leaves and bark
Hatching 1 to 3 months
Incubation period dependent on the species
Hatchlings can be 3 to 4 inches long
Facts:- Geckos eyes are 350 times more sensitive to light than human
eyes.
Geckos are able to produce various sounds for communication, including barks, chirps and clicks.
Some species of geckos have no legs and look more like snakes
Some gecko species can fly
Most species of gecko don’t have eyelids, so they lick their eyes to clean them
American Alligator:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Crocodilia
Family Alligatoridae
Genus Alligator
Species A. mississipiensis
Distribution:- Alligators are native to only the United
States and China
American alligators are found in the southeast United States all of Florida and Louisiana
The southern parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi coastal South and North Alabama East Texas
Characteristics:-
Lives in freshwater environments
(slow-moving rivers, marshes and lakes)
They have four short legs
Front legs five toes
Back legs four toes
Long, rounded snout (nostrils at the end)
Young tails bright yellow stripes
Adults tails dark stripes
Teeth 74 to 80
Lifespan 50 years
Male alligators are larger than female alligators
Female 8.2 feet
Male 11.2 feet
Carnivorous
(fish, snails and other invertebrates, birds, frogs and mammals that come to the water's edge)
Sexual maturity 6 feet long (10 to 12 years)
Around late June and early July, the female lays 35 to 50 eggs some females can lay up to 90 eggs
Incubation period 65 days
Sex determined by the temperature of the nest
Female 31 or below
Males 32 or above
Musk turtle:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Testudines
Family Kinosternidae
Genus Sternotherus
Species S. odoratus
Characteristics:- Small turtles with dark brown or black shells
Two distinct stripes on the head
Males have thicker tails than females
Males tails always ends in a spine and the anal vent extends beyond the edge of the carapace
Nocturnal
Foraging in shallow water in the evening
Omnivorous
(seeds, insects, snails, tadpoles, algae)
Breeding spring and fall
Lay two clutches a season of 1-9 eggs under in loamy soils
Snapping turtle:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordate
Class Reptilia
Order Testudines
Family Chelydridae
Genus Chelydra
Species C. serpentine
Distribution:-
North America, Central America, and South America to southern Canada and are native to the Nearctic region
Characteristics:- Mainly permanent water bodies (freshwater)
Go on land to lay their eggs in sandy soil
Live up to 30 years.
Large, unfriendly turtles
Strong clawed legs
Webbed feet
Powerful bite
Long neck
Carapace 8 and 18 inches long
Color dark brown to black.
Plastron covers the stomach
Cannot pull their head and legs into their shell
Strong tail with a row of ridges
Males are larger than females
Females weigh 4.4 to 5.5 pounds
Males weigh 249 pounds
Sexual maturity 200 mm carapace length
Active at night
Omnivorous (worms, insects, snails, and larger items such as other turtles, ducklings, and small mammals)
Box turtle:-
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordate
Class Reptilia
Order Testudines
Family Emydidae
Genus Terrapene
Species T. sp
Distribution:-
Eastern United States from Maine and Michigan to
Eastern Texas
Found in Canada & in Mexico
Inhabits open woodlands, marshy meadows, forests and brushy grasslands
Characteristics:- Gets its name from the structure of its shell which high domed
carapace (upper shell) and large hinged plastron (lower shell)
Carapace brown with variable pattern of orange oryellow spots
Adult male red irises
Adult female yellowish-brown
Males shorter and more curved claws on their hindfeet and longer and thicker tails
Predominantly terrestrial reptiles (often seen early in the day or afterrain )
Diet animal and plant matter (earthworms, slugs,insects, wild berries)
Courtship spring
Can store sperm for up to four years after mating
Lay a clutch of 1 to 11 eggs