tuatara en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /tuːəˈtɑːɹə/
Etymology
Borrowed from Māori tuatara.
Meanings
-
A reptile, Sphenodon punctatus, native to New Zealand, that resembles a lizard and is the only surviving specimen of the order Rhynchocephalia.
In New Zealand the dinosaurs had perished 65 million years before, as they had elsewhere on the globe; but the sphenodons or tuataras who had been their contemporaries from Jurassic times persisted, in New Zealand but nowhere else, for reasons that remain obscure.
2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 4:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tuataras | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| tuatara | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Relateds
Translations (19)
es tuátara (reptile) · as টুৱাটাৰা (reptile) · fi tuatara (reptile) · pl łupkoząb (reptile) · ja ムカシトカゲ (reptile) · sv bryggödla (reptile) · sm tuatala (reptile) · mi tuatara (reptile) · de Brückenechse (reptile) · yue 楔齒蜥 /楔齿蜥 (reptile) · es tuatara (reptile) · ru туата́ра (reptile) · sv tuatara (reptile) · ru гатте́рия (reptile) · fr sphénodon (reptile) · pl hatteria (reptile) · nl brughagedis (reptile) · pl tuatara (reptile) · cmn 楔齒蜥 /楔齿蜥 (reptile)