Tuataras and The Question of Living Fossils

Seen here through the glass wall of the Southland Museum's tuatarium on New Zealand's South Island, Henry the tuatara has been around since the late 19th century. His lineage is much older — the species predates dinosaurs. Credit: G. Tarlach. New Zealand's tuataras prove the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" like few other animals on the planet (coelacanth, I'm looking at you). While paleontologists have long differed over the animal's "living fossil" status, new research suggests the tuatara lineage got its groove some 240 million years ago and never lost it. Sphenodon punctatus, commonly known as the tuatara, has been puzzling science as long as science has been aware of it: Back in 1831, the animal was initially described as a lizard. Tuataras eventually got their own special spot on the reptile family tree as the last living species of a once-diverse group known as the ...