biology

List of reptiles

List of reptiles is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of reptiles rather than just read about it. In short: Reptiles are tetrapod animals in the class Reptilia, comprising today's turtles, crocodilians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, tuatara, and their extinct relatives. The study of these traditional reptile orders, historically combined with that of modern amphibians, is called herpetology.

Key takeaways

List of reptiles belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of reptiles to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of reptiles from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Reptiles are tetrapod animals in the class Reptilia, comprising today's turtles, crocodilians, snakes, amphisbaenians, lizards, tuatara, and their extinct relatives. The study of these traditional reptile orders, historically combined with that of modern amphibians, is called herpetology. The following list of reptiles lists the vertebrate class of reptiles by family, spanning two subclasses. Reptile here is taken in its traditional (paraphyletic) sense, and thus birds are not included (although birds are considered reptiles in the cladistic sense).

Subclass/informal group Anapsida

Order Testudines – turtles Suborder Cryptodira Family Chelydridae – common snapping turtles and alligator snapping turtle Family Emydidae – pond turtles and box turtles Family Testudinidae – tortoises Family Geoemydidae – Asian river turtles and allies Family Carettochelyidae – pignose turtles Family Trionychidae – softshell turtles Family Dermatemydidae – river turtles Family Kinosternidae – mud turtles Family Cheloniidae – sea turtles Family Dermochelyidae – leatherback turtles Suborder Pleurodira Family Chelidae – Austro-American sideneck turtles Family Pelomedusidae – Afro-American sideneck turtles Family Podocnemididae – Madagascan big-headed turtles and American sideneck river turtles

Subclass Diapsida

Superorder Lepidosauria

Order Sphenodontia – tuatara Family Sphenodontidae

Order Squamata – scaled reptiles Family Agamidae – agamas Family Chamaeleonidae – chameleons Family Iguanidae Subfamily Corytophaninae – casquehead lizard Subfamily Iguaninae – iguanas Subfamily Leiocephalinae Subfamily Leiosaurinae Subfamily Liolaeminae Subfamily Oplurinae – Madagascar iguanids Family Crotaphytidae – collared and leopard lizards Family Phrynosomatidae – horned lizards Family Polychrotidae – anoles Family Hoplocercidae – wood lizards Family Tropiduridae – Neotropical ground lizards Family Gekkonidae – geckos Family Pygopodidae – legless lizards Family Dibamidae – blind lizards Family Cordylidae – spinytail lizards Family Gerrhosauridae – plated lizards Family Gymnophthalmidae – spectacled lizards Family Teiidae – whiptails and tegus Family Lacertidae – lacertids Family Amphisbaenidae – worm lizards Family Trogonophidae – shorthead worm lizards Family Bipedidae – two-legged worm lizards Family Scincidae – skinks Family Xantusiidae – night lizards Family Anguidae – glass lizards Family Anniellidae – American legless lizards Family Xenosauridae – knob-scaled lizards Family Helodermatidae – Gila monsters Family Lanthanotidae – earless monitor lizards Family Varanidae – monitor lizards

Suborder Serpentes – snakes Infraorder Alethinophidia Family Acrochordidae – wart snakes Family Aniliidae – false coral snakes Family Anomochilidae – dwarf pipe snakes Family Atractaspididae – African burrowing asps, stiletto snakes Family Boidae – Gray, 1825 – boas, anacondas Subfamily Boinae Subfamily Erycinae – Old World sand boas Family Bolyeriidae – Mauritius snakes Family Colubridae – Colubrids, typical snakes Subfamily Xenodermatinae Subfamily Homalopsinae Subfamily Boodontinae Subfamily Pseudoxyrhophiinae Subfamily Colubrinae Subfamily Psammophiinae Subfamily Natricinae Subfamily Pseudoxenodontinae Subfamily Dipsadinae Subfamily Xenodontinae Family Cylindrophiidae – Asian pipe snakes Family Elapidae – cobras, coral snakes, mambas, sea snakes Family Loxocemidae – Mexican pythons Family Pythonidae – pythons Family Tropidophiidae – dwarf boas Family Uropeltidae – pipe snakes, shield-tailed snakes Family Viperidae – vipers, pitvipers Subfamily Azemiopinae – Fae's viper Subfamily Causinae – night adders Subfamily Crotalinae – pitvipers, rattlesnakes Subfamily Viperinae – true vipers Family Xenopeltidae – sunbeam snakes Infraorder Scolecophidia – blind snakes Family Anomalepididae – primitive blind snakes Family Leptotyphlopidae – slender blind snakes, thread snakes Family Typhlopidae – blind snakes, typical blind snakes

Division Archosauria Superorder Crocodylomorpha

Order Crocodylia – crocodilians

Suborder Eusuchia Family Crocodylidae – crocodiles Family Alligatoridae – alligators and caimans Family Gavialidae – gharials

Clade Dinosauria – dinosaurs Class Aves – birds (not included in this list) Multiple extinct groups

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of reptiles

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of reptiles claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of reptiles before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of reptiles ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of reptiles

In research: List of reptiles appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of reptiles in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of reptiles is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of animals, Lists of reptiles, Lists of species lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of reptiles outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of reptiles in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of reptiles means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of reptiles out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of reptiles in simple terms?

Why does List of reptiles matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of reptiles?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of reptiles.