Tuatara

Sphenodon punctatus. New Zealand. Mounted specimen, circa 1885.

Tuataras are now found only on about 30 small islands off the coast of New Zealand. The Sphenodon collection at the NHM Vienna is one of the largest collections outside New Zealand.

A FATHER AT 111
In January 2009, eleven tuataras hatched at Wellington Zoo. The father’s age prompted a headline even in the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper: “Father at the age of 111.” However, for a tuatara that is nothing special. The nocturnal animals probably live up to 150 years and only become sexually mature at 20. They are most comfortable at a temperature of about 12° C, which makes them the reptile species with the lowest heat needs.
Tuatara are the only surviving members of the Sphenodontia order, which was widespread in the Mesozoic age more than 200 million years ago. They differ very little from their ancestors and are, therefore, described as “living fossils”. Besides tuataras, crocodiles are the only other animal to have complete temporal arches. Like other primal vertebrates, the tuatara has a third eye on the top of its head, which does not supply an image, but serves only to determine differences in brightness. Today these ancient lizards are strictly protected.
The specimen at the museum was mounted in the 19th century and comes from the collection of the famous Austrian taxidermist Andreas Reischek. The director at that time of the royal and imperial Natural History Museum gave Reischek the opportunity of working for twelve years as a taxidermist at the Museum of Christchurch, New Zealand. He took advantage of this time to collect and preserve thousands of plants and animals. A subspecies of tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus reischeki, was named after him.