noun
definition
A cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia.
definition
A mean or grovelling person.
Examples of reptiles in a Sentence
During the colder months these reptiles remain in a torpid state.
Reptiles are numerous.
Among reptiles the various kinds of lizard are noticeable.
These great reptiles may attain a length of To ft.; they feed on small animals which they crush to death in their folds.
Thus it has come to pass that the muscles of the hind limbs are, like their framework, more easily compared with those of reptiles and mammals than are the wings, whilst within the class of birds they show an enormous amount of variation in direct correlation with their manifold requirements.
Reptiles are scarce, and venomous reptiles unknown.
There are only two or three vertebrae which are equivalent to those of the reptiles; these true sacrals are situated in a level just behind the acetabulum; as a rule between these two primary sacral vertebrae issues the last of the spinal nerves which contributes to the composition of the sciadic plexus.
We have here the interesting fact that a muscle (portion of the triceps humeri of the reptiles) has been reduced to a tendon, which in a secondary way has become connected with cutaneous muscles, which, when strongly developed, represent its belly.
The moving mechanism is a further and much higher development of that which prevails in reptiles, there being two muscles completely separate from each other.
As regards reptiles, there are at least seven poisonous snakes - two cobras, two puff-adders and three vipers.
Dvina, Glossopteris, Noeggerathiopsis and other ferns characteristic of the Indian Gondwana beds have been found; and with these are numerous remains of reptiles similar to those which occur in the Indian deposits.
In the author's concluding summary he remarks on the fact that, while the Odontolcae, as exhibited in Hesperornis, had teeth inserted in a continuous groove - a low and generalized character as shown by reptiles, they had, however, the strongly differentiated saddle-shaped vertebrae such as all modern birds possess.
The separation of the Ratitae from the other birds, and their seemingly fundamental differences, notably the absence of the keel and of the power of flight, induced certain authors to go so far as to derive the Ratitae from the Dinosaurian reptiles, whilst Archaeopteryx (q.v.) and the Carinatae were supposed to have sprung from some Pterosaurian or similar reptilian stock.
Every bayou contains alligators; and reptiles of various species, such as turtles, lizards, horned toads, rattlesnakes and moccasins are abundant.
The list of reptiles includes the venomous Vipera ammodytes and Pelias berus, while scorpions and lizards infest the stony wastes of the Karst.
The reptiles (tortoises) are also nearly allied to the Mascarenes and Madagascar species which once existed.
In the Tableau Elementaire, published in 1795, Cuvier adopts Linnaeus's term in its earlier sense, but uses the French word "Reptiles," already brought into use by Brisson, as the equivalent of Amphibia.
All birds have, like most reptiles, a well-developed third lid or "nictitating membrane," which moves from the inner canthus obliquely upwards and backwards over the cornea.
Although the scala tympani is so rudimentary, not reaching a higher level than in most of the reptiles, and remaining far below the mammalia, birds do not only hear extremely well, but they distinguish between and " understand " pitch, notes and melodies.
The majority of spiders, however, are soft-skinned and succulent, and are tasty morsels for insectivorous reptiles, birds and mammals.
In 1816, de Blainville, 4 adopting Latreille's view, divided the Linnaean Amphibia into Squamiferes and Nudipelliferes, or Amphibiens; though he offered an alternative arrangement, in which the class Reptiles is preserved and divided into two subclasses, the Ornithoides and the Ichthyoides.
More 1 Brongniart's Essai d'une classification naturelle des reptiles was not published in full till 1803.
Of reptiles Japan has only 30 species, and among them is included the marine turtle (urni-ganie) which can scarcely be said to frequent her waters, since it is seen only at rare intervals on the southern coast.
The son of Rangi and Papa was Tangaloa (also called Tangaroa and Taaroa), the sea-god and the father of fishes and reptiles.'
They may be characterized as very elongated reptiles without limbs (unless with tiny vestiges of posterior limbs), without eyelids and external ear openings, with the teeth anchylosed to the supporting bones, a bifid slender tongue which is telescoped into its basal half, and with a transverse vent.
More detail concerning skull, scales and teeth will be found in the diagnostic descriptions of the various families (vide infra); for further anatomical information the reader is referred to the article Reptiles (Anatomy).
There young Parkman spent his leisure hours in collecting eggs, insects and reptiles, trapping squirrels and woodchucks, and shooting birds with arrows.
They need good hand-eye coordination to handle reptiles.
Armadillos are omnivorous, feeding on roots, insects, worms, reptiles and carrion, and are mostly, though not universally, Peba Armadillo (Tatusia novemcincta).
Oxyuris, though chiefly parasitic in the Mammalia, occurs also in reptiles, Amphibia and one or two insects.
The discovery of their true nature was made by Dr William Buckland, who observed that certain convoluted bodies occurring in the Lias of Gloucestershire had the form which would have been produced by their passage in the soft state through the intestines of reptiles or fishes.
Their food was the meat they killed in the chase, or seeds and roots, grubs or reptiles.
The scope of the anatomical part of the following article is a general account of the structure of birds (A y es) in so far as they, as a class, differ from other vertebrates, notably reptiles and mammals, whilst features especially characteristic, peculiar or unique, have been dwelt upon at greater length so far as space permitted.
The principal reptiles are a lizard, a tortoise, the vivora de la crux (a dangerous viper, so called from marks like a cross on its head) and the rattlesnake in Maldonado and the stony lands of Minas.
The reptiles are few.
The crocodile is found in the Mekong, and there are many varieties of reptiles, some of them venomous.
Nature has provided several species of animals, birds and reptiles, to feed upon these insects, and various poisonous and suffocating compounds are used to destroy them, but with no great degree of success.
Among reptiles the Egyptian cobra seems to be indigenous in the south, where also is found the dreaded horned viper.
Among the reptiles are various species of serpents, tortoises, turtles, lizards, &c. Locusts are common and sometimes do great damage.
The minute gradations observed by Hyatt, Waagen and all invertebrate palaeontologists, in the hard parts (shells) of molluscs, &c., are analogous to the equally minute gradations observed by vertebrate palaeontologists in the hard parts of reptiles and mammals.
It often feeds on fresh-water turtles; sometimes following the reptiles into the water to effect a capture, it inserts a paw between the shells and drags out the body of the turtle by means of its sharp claws.
Reptiles, sand-flies and mosquitoes are common.
Reptiles and batrachians are abundant, but have been little studied.
It is little wonder that men who could tame and handle the reptiles gained esteem and influence.
The shrine is famous for its cures, and when the saint has his serpent-festival on the first Thursday in May, Serpari or serpent-men carry coils of live reptiles in procession before his image, which in turn is hung with serpents of all sizes.
Again, among the Moquis of America, where the snake-clan claim descent from a woman who gave birth to snakes, the reptiles are freely handled at the " snake dances " which are performed partly to secure the fertility of the soil.'
Very generally the tail has distinctly the appearance of an appendage, but in some of the lower mammals, such as the thylacine among marsupials, and the aard-vark or ant-bear among the edentates, it is much thickened at the root, and passes insensibly into the body, after the fashion common among reptiles.
It is now practically certain that mammals are descended from reptiles.
In each country the same succession of the rocks is met with; over both the same specialized orders of reptiles roamedand were entombed.
The faunal aspect of the Tertiary periods differs strikingly from that of preceding Secondary or Mesozoic; in place of the great saurian reptiles we find the rapid development and finally the maximum expansion of mammals.