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Unlike most other reptiles, rattlesnakes give birth to live young rather than laying eggs. Since not all females give birth at the same time, these rookeries allow the mothers to share ...
The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, (Zootoca vivipara, formerly Lacerta vivipara) is a Eurasian lizard.It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning it gives birth to live young (although they will sometimes lay eggs normally). [3]
The egg is not retained in the body for most of the period of development of the embryo within the egg, which is the main distinction between oviparity and ovoviviparity. [1] Oviparity occurs in all birds, most reptiles, some fishes, and most arthropods. Among mammals, monotremes (four species of echidna, and the platypus) are uniquely oviparous.
Like other amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals) they breathe air and do not lay eggs underwater, although many species live in or around water. Turtle shells are made mostly of bone ; the upper part is the domed carapace , while the underside is the flatter plastron or belly-plate.
Reptiles, from Nouveau Larousse Illustré, 1897–1904, notice the inclusion of amphibians (below the crocodiles). In the 13th century, the category of reptile was recognized in Europe as consisting of a miscellany of egg-laying creatures, including "snakes, various fantastic monsters, lizards, assorted amphibians, and worms", as recorded by Beauvais in his Mirror of Nature. [7]
Usually, eggs are laid only by the queen, but the unmated workers may also lay haploid, male eggs either regularly (e.g. stingless bees) or under special circumstances. An example of non-viable parthenogenesis is common among domesticated honey bees. The queen bee is the only fertile female in the hive; if she dies without the possibility of a ...
After internal fertilization and the habit of laying eggs in terrestrial environments became a reproduction strategy amongst the amniote ancestors, the next major breakthrough appears to have involved a gradual replacement of the gelatinous coating covering the amphibian egg with a fibrous shell membrane. This allowed the egg to increase both ...
The study of the traditional reptile orders, customarily in combination with the study of modern amphibians, is called herpetology. Reptiles have been subject to several conflicting taxonomic definitions. In Linnaean taxonomy, reptiles are gathered together under the class Reptilia (/ r ɛ p ˈ t ɪ l i ə / rep-TIL-ee-ə), which