What were the first marine reptiles?

What is the name of the first marine reptile?

Plesiosaurus — the First Discovered Marine Reptile P. dolichodeirus, or Plesiosaurus, was not a dinosaur, but a plesiosaur—a marine reptile (Greek—near to lizard) from the Mesozoic Era of the Early Jurassic period. Plesiosaurus was the first species of its kind to be discovered.

Is a sea snake a reptile?

“True” sea snakes (subfamily Hydrophiinae; hereafter referred to as sea snakes) are a diverse group of air-breathing, live-bearing marine reptiles that have a completely marine life cycle. Some 71 species of sea snake inhabit tropical and subtropical waters globally.

How many species of marine reptiles are there?

Although only seven turtle species are truly marine, many more dwell in brackish waters. Sea snakes: the most abundant of the marine reptiles, there are over 60 different species of sea snakes.

What kind of animal is a sea snake?

Jump to navigation Jump to search. Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are a subfamily of venomous elapid snakes, the Hydrophiinae, that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. Most are extensively adapted to a fully aquatic life and are unable to move on land, except for the genus Laticauda, which has limited land movement.

How many species of sea snakes are there?

The four are true sea snakes (about 50 species), sea turtles (eight species), sea kraits (second lineage of sea snake—about five species), and the marine iguana (Márquez 1990; Rasmussen 2001 ). Note that the saltwater crocodile, which is sometimes considered a marine reptile, is not included among marine reptiles here, as discussed above.

Do marine reptiles Ever Rest on land?

Some marine reptiles also occasionally rest and bask on land. Sea turtles: there are seven extant species of sea turtles, which live mostly along the tropical and subtropical coastlines, though some do migrate long distances and have been known to travel as far north as Scandinavia.

What are sea snakes?

In the ocean, Sea snakes are no more than 60 species of highly venomous marine snakes of the cobra family (Elapidae). There are two independently evolved groups: the true sea snakes (subfamily Hydrophiinae), which are related to Australian terrestrial elapids, and the sea kraits (subfamily Laticaudinae), which are related to the Asian cobras.

How many snakes are there in the world?

There are roughly a hundred snake species listed by the IUCN Red List as endangered, typically due to habitat loss from development. Here’s a fact to make ophidiophobes feel uneasy: Five species of snakes can fly. Most snakes live on land, but there are about 70 species of snakes that live in the Indian and Pacific oceans.

What is the taxonomy of a sea snake?

Taxonomy. Sea snakes were at first regarded as a unified and separate family, the Hydrophiidae, that later came to comprise two subfamilies: the Hydrophiinae, or true/aquatic sea snakes (now 16 genera with 57 species), and the more primitive Laticaudinae, or sea kraits (one genus, Laticauda, with five species).

How many different types of sea snakes are there?

There are two independently evolved groups: the true sea snakes (subfamily Hydrophiinae), which are related to Australian terrestrial elapids, and the sea kraits (subfamily Laticaudinae), which are related to the Asian cobras.

What are some examples of marine reptiles in the Cenozoic era?

After the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, marine reptiles were less numerous, but there was still a high variety of species in the early Cenozoic, such as “true” sea turtles, bothremydids, palaeophiid snakes, a few choristoderes such as Simoedosaurus and dyrosaurid crocodylomorphs.

Do marine reptiles return to land to lay eggs?

Others, such as sea turtles and saltwater crocodiles, return to shore to lay their eggs. Some marine reptiles also occasionally rest and bask on land.

Are marine reptiles an endangered species?

(February 2020) Most species of marine reptiles are considered endangered to some degree.

What is a sea snake?

Sea snakes are members of the Elapid family that are found in the Indian and Pacific oceans. They are perhaps the most abundant reptiles on earth, and all 52 species are venomous, with several species capable of severe envenomation.

What are sea snakes adapted to?

Sea snakes are an incredibly specialized group of reptiles, which are perfectly adapted to ocean life, and few of them ever come ashore. There are a number of interesting adaptations and traits unique to these snakes. Read on to learn about the sea snake. Banded sea snake under water. Photo by Alexpunker.

How many snakes are in the world?

About 70% are oviparous (lay eggs) while the rest are non-oviparous but do not go through the larval stage. There are approximately 3,600 known species of snakes in the world. There are about 375 species of venomous snakes and only a small proportion are harmful to humans.

Are sea snakes amphibious or terrestrial?

Laticaudinae, or sea kraits, with a single representative genus named Laticauda, includes eight species. These animals have an amphibious life, as they reproduce on land. We’ll now examine each of these two major categories. Sea snakes present great anatomical differences with respect to their terrestrial counterparts.

What are sea snakes’senses?

Other unique senses, such as electromagnetic reception and pressure detection, have been proposed for sea snakes, but scientific studies have yet to be performed to test these senses. Sea snakes are mostly confined to the warm tropical waters of the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, with a few species found well out into Oceania.

How many types of sea snakes are there?

There are two subfamilies of sea snakes: Hydrophiinae or Hydrophis, which includes the majority of the species. They’re completely marine reptiles, which don’t need to come to the surface except to breathe since, unlike fish, they don’t have gills.

What animals lived in the Cenozoic era?

Descriptions of animal life throughout the era During the Cenozoic Era, fauna in general underwent dramatic changes. Species like dinosaurs, large swimming reptiles, microscopic plankton had extinguished by this time. After the dinosaur extinction, the spread and evolution of mammals became very prominent.

How many marine reptiles are there in the world?

Number of species of living marine reptiles grouped into families and orders. These true marine species belong to three big groups: sea turtles, Marine Iguana and sea snakes. At least eleven more can be considered estuarine species or dwellers of mangroves, saltmarshes and coastal areas.

Why study ancient marine reptiles?

In many ways, the study of ancient marine reptiles helped form the foundation of the scientific discipline study that came to be known as vertebrate paleontology—the study of extinct animals with backbones. This chapter provides an overview of the major clades of extinct marine reptilesthat lived during the Mesozoic Era.

Do sea turtles lay eggs on land or water?

Sea turtles are almost fully aquatic but at least females still need to return to land to lay eggs. Living marine reptiles are tropical to subtropical in their distribution, except for some sea turtles that are distributed into the colder waters, such as the gigantic leatherback turtle (Márquez 1990 ).

How do marine reptiles reproduce?

They reproduce via internal fertilization, but lay their eggs on land. Some reptiles bear live young. Few reptiles live in salt water. These reptiles are sea snakes, marine lizards, crocodiles, and sea turtles. Marine reptiles live mainly in tropical and subtropical oceans.

Which reptiles have re-entered the ocean?

However, only a few reptile groups re-entered the oceans, primarily sea snakes (elapids related to cobras and kraits), and sea turtles. All major reptile groups, i.e. the snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles, have at least a few members that enter marine habitats even though they may have never completely adapted to a life in the open sea.