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