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{{automatic taxobox
| name = Reptiles
| fossil_range = [[Pennsylvanian]]–[[Holocene|present]], 312–0 mya
| image = Extant reptilia.jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| image_caption = Clockwise from above left: [[Green sea turtle]] (''Chelonia mydas''), [[Tuatara]] (''Sphenodon punctatus''), [[Nile crocodile]] (''Crocodylus niloticus''), and [[Sinai agama]] (''Pseudotrapelus sinaitus'')
| taxon = Reptilia
| authority = [[Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti|Laurenti]], 1768
| subdivision_ranks = Extant groups
| subdivision =
* [[Lepidosauria]] {{small|(lepidosaurs)}}
** [[Rhynchocephalia]] {{small|([[tuatara]] and relatives)}}
** [[Squamata]] {{small|(lizards and snakes)}}
* [[Turtle|Testudines]] {{small|(turtles)}}
* [[Archosauria]] {{small|(archosaurs)}}
** [[Crocodilia]] {{small|(crocodilians)}}
** [[Bird|Aves]] {{small|(birds)}} {{small|(included in [[Cladistics|cladistic]] analyses, but excluded in traditional taxonomy)}}
{{small|See [[#Taxonomy|text]] for extinct groups.}}
| range_map = Global Reptile Biodiversity.png
| range_map_caption = Global reptile distribution (excluding birds)
}}
[[File:Traditional Reptilia.png|thumb|right|300px|Diagram of traditional Reptilia: it is ''not'' a [[clade]]. To be a clade it would need to include birds (Aves) and drop [[Amniota]]. This is why the term '[[Sauropsida]]' is often preferred to the term 'Reptilia' (in modern [[taxonomy]]).]]
'''Reptile''' is the common name for one of the main groups of land [[vertebrate]]s. It is not used so much by biologists, who use more accurate terms.

The name "reptile" comes from [[Latin language|Latin]] and means "one who creeps". All living reptile species are [[cold blooded]], have scaly [[skin]], and lay [[cleidoic egg]]s.<ref>Some give birth to live young, with the cleidoic eggs developing internally.</ref><ref>2008. "Squamata Suborder: Serpentes". The University of Georgia Museum of Natural History. [http://dromus.nhm.uga.edu/~gmnh/gawildlife/index.php?page=speciespages/order_description&order=Squamata%20Suborder:%20Serpentes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613011828/http://dromus.nhm.uga.edu/~GMNH/gawildlife/index.php?page=speciespages%2Forder_description&order=Squamata%20Suborder%3A%20Serpentes |date=2010-06-13 }}</ref> They excrete [[uric acid]] (instead of [[urea]]), and have a [[cloaca]]. A cloaca is a shared opening for the [[anus]], urinary tract and reproductive ducts. Reptiles also share an arrangement of the [[heart]] and major blood vessels which is different from that of mammals.<ref>Goodrich E.S. 1930. ''Studies on the structure and development of vertebrates''. Macmillan, London.</ref>

Many important groups of reptiles are now [[extinct]], for example the [[mosasaur]]s. We used to say the [[dinosaur]]s were extinct, but they survive in the form of their feathered descendants ([[bird]]s). Ancient reptiles that do survive include the [[turtle]]s, the [[crocodile]]s and the [[Tuatara]], the lone survivor of its group. The great majority of present-day reptiles are [[snake]]s and [[lizard]]s.

The study of living reptiles is called ''[[herpetology]]''.

==Birds in relation to reptiles==
Some reptiles are more closely related to [[bird]]s than they are to other reptiles. Crocodiles are more closely related to birds than they are to lizards. [[Theropod]] [[dinosaurs]] are even more closely related, because birds evolved from them.

[[Cladistic]] writers prefer a more unified [[Monophyly|(monophyletic)]] grouping. This puts the birds (over 10,000 species) with what people normally call reptiles.<ref name=Early/><ref name=LR95>{{Cite journal|year=1995 |title=A reevaluation of early amniote phylogeny |journal= Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=113 |issue=2 |pages=165–223 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1995.tb00932.x |url=http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3reisz/pdf/laurin_reisz1995.pdf|last1=Laurin |first1=Michel |last2=Reisz |first2=Robert R. }}</ref><ref name=MSP99>{{cite journal |last=Modesto |first=S.P. |year=1999 |title=Observations of the structure of the Early Permian reptile ''Stereosternum tumidum'' Cope |journal=Palaeontologia Africana |volume=35 |pages=7–19}}</ref> (see [[Sauropsida]])

==Taxonomy==
Reptilia is an [[evolutionary grade]] rather than a [[clade]]. The main reason is that the term 'reptile' does not include birds, the descendents of [[theropod]] [[dinosaur]]s. Another reason is that the word 'reptile' is misleading because many extinct types were very different from living reptiles.

So instead of Reptilia as a taxonomic class, today many experts use Class [[Sauropsid]]a (which includes all reptiles and birds, living and extinct). Class [[Synapsid]]a includes mammals and all their forebears. ''Reptile'' is still the usual [[wikt:informal|informal]] term to describe living [[snakes]] and [[lizards]]. Mammals are a genuine clade, and so Mammalia is still the taxonomic term.

Since reptiles are not [[monophyletic]], reclassifying them is one of the key aims of researchers.<ref name=Early>Gauthier J.A., Kluge A.G & Rowe T. 1988. The early evolution of the Amniota. pp103–155 in Michael J. Benton (ed) ''The phylogeny and classification of the tetrapods'', Volume 1: Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds. ''Systematics Association'', Special vol 35A. Clarendon Press, Oxford.</ref><ref>Gauthier J.A. 1994. The diversification of the amniotes. In D.R. Prothero and R.M. Schoch (eds) ''Major features of vertebrate evolution''. 129-159. Knoxville, Tennessee: The Paleontological Society.</ref><ref>Laurin M. & Gauthier J.A. 1996. [http://tolweb.org/Amniota/14990 Amniota, Mammals, reptiles (turtles, lizards, Sphenodon, crocodiles, birds) and their extinct relatives]. Version 01 January 1996. The Tree of Life Web Project.</ref> Some taxonomists, such as Benton,<ref>Benton, Michael J. 2004. ''Vertebrate Paleontology''. 3rd ed, Blackwell, Oxford. {{ISBN|0-632-05637-1}}.</ref> make Sauropsida and Synapsida as class-level [[taxon|taxa]]. The two groups split in the [[Carboniferous]], from stem-group [[Amniote]]s (the early [[tetrapod]]s, which laid [[cleidoic egg]]s).

==Eye feature==
A [[membrane]] forms an inner [[eyelid]] in reptiles and birds. Whitish or translucent, it can be drawn across the eye to protect it from dust and keep it moist. It is called the ''nictitating membrane''.

== Size ==
Reptiles can live in large and small sizes. Their land sizes can be both bigger and smaller than mammals. [[Titanosaur]]s were the largest land reptiles, and the smallest land reptile is a [[chameleon]] 13.5mm long.<ref>'Smallest reptile on earth' discovered in Madagascar. ''BBC News'' [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55945948].</ref>

==Living reptiles==
* Reptiles (living groups only)
** Order [[Crocodilia]] ([[crocodile]]s, [[Gharial|gavials]], [[caimaninae|caimans]], and [[alligator]]s): 23 species
** Order [[Sphenodontia]] (''[[Tuatara]]'' from [[New Zealand]]): 2 species
** Order [[Squamata]] ([[lizard]]s, [[snake]]s, and [[amphisbaenia|amphisbaenids]] ("worm-lizards"): about 7,000 species.
** Order [[Testudines]] ([[turtle]]s, [[tortoise]]s, and [[terrapins]]): approximately 300 species

<gallery>
Image:NileCrocodile.jpg|[[Crocodile]]
Image:Tuatara adult.jpg|[[Tuatara]]
Image:Diamondback turtle adult female.jpg|[[Turtle]]
</gallery>
<gallery>
Image:Chamaelio calyptratus.jpg|[[Chameleon]]s, a lizard<br />
Image:L14cobra.jpg|[[Snake]]
Image:Sleeping komodo.jpg|[[Komodo dragon]], sleeping. Largest living [[lizard]]
</gallery>

==References==
{{wikispecies|Reptilia}}
{{commonscat|Reptilia}}
{{Reflist}}
{{vertebrates}}

[[Category:Reptiles| ]]

Reptile - Revision history

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