List of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles of New Zealand. Although the evidence is rare, fossils reveal that there were dinosaurs in New Zealand. Possibly because it lacks the right conditions for fossilisation, only fragments of bone and a few vertebrae have been found there.

Dinosaurs continued to live in New Zealand and had about had 10–20 million years to evolve unique species after it separated from Gondwana. In the Cretaceous, New Zealand was much further south (c. Ratites evolved around c. 80 ma and may have been present in Zealandia at this time.

Eighty million years ago, the landmass that was to become New Zealand, broke away from Gondwana, splitting away from Australia and Antarctica as the Tasman Sea opened up. Full separation took over 20 million years with the Tasman Sea reaching its present width of 2,000 km around 60 million years ago.

Tuatara – a native New Zealand reptile – at Rainbow Springs, Rotorua. The tuatara is the world’s only living relative of the dinosaurs that roamed the earth 220 million years ago.

A special place in biodiversity The initial claim that the tuatara is not a lizard was based on anatomical differences such as the presence of a second row of upper teeth, which is not seen in any lizard. Subsequent genetic and fossil discoveries have confirmed that the tuatara has a separate heritage.

(CNN) — It took about 110 years and some delicate surgery on his most private parts, but Henry — a lizard-like creature from New Zealand — is now a dad. Henry, the oldest tuatara to mate at Southland Museum, enjoys a cold shower in his home in New Zealand.

They are not currently endangered, but their limited range puts them at risk. Besides natural and introduced predators and habitat loss, tuatara face the threat of the black market reptile trade. In the illegal pet trade, a single tuatara can fetch more than $40,000. The tuatara is an ancient and unique species.

Rats are considered the most serious threat to the survival of tuatara because they are easily transported as stowaways on boats and usually the first alien animals to arrive unnoticed in new places. Islands with rats have few nocturnal invertebrates or reptiles.

This cold blooded reptile is totally different from all lizards, amphibians and other reptiles. Once common throughout the lowland areas of New Zealand, the estimated 100,000 remaining Tuatara are now restricted to a few offshore islands where there are no introduced predators such as rats, cats, stoats and pigs.

The SSC Tuatara, made by Richland, Washington-based private car company SSC with a base price around $1.9 million, set a new world record earlier this month with an average speed of 316.1 mph, the company announced in a press release on Monday.

Ford GT