Tagged: tuatara

Tuatara are ancient, slow and endangered. But their super speedy sperm could boost conservation efforts - Hot off the press

Guest Author • Aug 04, 2021 •

• New Zealand stories,
• reproduction,
• tuatara

Sarah Lamar, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Dr Diane Ormsby, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Jennifer Moore, Grand Valley State University ; Nicola Jane Nelson, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, and Susan N. Keall, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington   New Zealand’s endemic tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) are the … Read More

Kiwi and tuatara could be ancient foes - Wild Science

Helen Taylor • Jan 25, 2019 •

• burrows,
• competition,
• Kiwi,
• little spotted kiwi,
• tuatara

What happens when you reunite two species that have been separated for centuries by human activity? According to our latest research, they might turn out to be old rivals. A landscape of species separation New Zealand is a pretty unique place when it comes to biodiversity. However, it’s unique in some negative ways too. Thanks to human activity, many … Read More

Back to the Future in Northland: Fossils illuminate a flight path towards ecosystem restoration - Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives

Nic Rawlence • Apr 18, 2018 •

• Auckland Musuem,
• Bioblitz,
• Biodiversity,
• birds,
• Ecosystem Restoration,
• fossil,
• Kōhatu Shag,
• Moho,
• Ngāti Kuri,
• Northland,
• Sea Lion,
• tuatara

Ground control to Major Tom: The otherworldly Herangi Hill at Motu i Pao/Cape Maria van Dieman where Fred found the ancient Moho skull. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Carol. In the pouring rain, surrounded by flowing sand lava and cascading lahars, Fred Brook gingerly walks towards Matt Rayner and me. He’s sliding across a steep sand dune, his hands carefully … Read More

Through the looking glass: Fossils reveal a Miocene Wonderland at St Bathans - Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives

Nic Rawlence • Mar 19, 2018 •

• Adzebill,
• bats,
• Biodiversity,
• crocodile,
• Duck,
• Eagle,
• extinction,
• fish,
• fossil,
• frog,
• gecko,
• Heron,
• Kiwi,
• Lake Manuherikia,
• mammal,
• Miocene,
• moa,
• New Zealand,
• Parrots,
• Pigeons,
• rail,
• seabirds,
• shellfish,
• Skink,
• St Bathans,
• Swiftlets,
• tuatara,
• Turtle,
• Waddling Mouse

It’s the height of the Central Otago summer – barren, dry and dusty. Driving down the gravel road to St Bathans, we’re travelling back in time, down the rabbit hole to a world long gone. Only ghosts remain of this lost world and that’s what we’ve come here to find. The fossilised bones of a myriad of animals dating back … Read More

Not a lizard nor a dinosaur, tuatara is the sole survivor of a once-widespread reptile group - Guest Work

Guest Author • May 12, 2017 •

• biomechanics,
• conservation,
• lizards,
• reptiles,
• Rhychocephalia,
• tuatara

By Marc Emyr Huw Jones, University of Adelaide Have you ever heard of the tuatara? It’s a reptile that decapitates birds with its saw-like jaws, lives to about 100 years old, and can remain active in near-freezing temperatures. It’s also the sole survivor of a lineage as old as the first dinosaurs. May 2017 marks 150 … Read More

Government announces new Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs) - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • May 08, 2014 •

• Allan Wilson Centre,
• Art in the Dark,
• Bio-Protection,
• Brain Research New Zealand,
• Centres of Research Excellence,
• CoREs,
• David Winter,
• Dodd-Walls Centre,
• Gravida,
• Lincoln,
• macdiarmid institute,
• Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery,
• Medical Technologies,
• National Science Challenges,
• Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga,
• Otaga,
• Riddet,
• Te Pūnaha Matatini,
• TEC,
• Tertiary Education Commission,
• tuatara,
• University of Auckland

The NZ government today announced the country’s next Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs), who between them will receive just under $35 million per year for 6 years starting in January 2015. They are: The Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, hosted by University of Auckland MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, hosted … Read More

Monday Micro – whole genome sequencing untangles the history of leprosy - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Jun 17, 2013 •

• David Winter,
• genomes,
• leprosy,
• mycobacteria,
• mycobacterium leprae,
• sequencing,
• Stuart Cole,
• tuatara,
• whole genome sequencing

As David Winter sets out to blog about the exciting Tuatara sequencing project, just in time for Monday Micro comes news that scientists have used sequencing to untangle a little more of the history of leprosy. Just in case you need reminding, leprosy*, also known as Hansen’s disease, is caused by the extremely … Read More

Tuatara tuesday – sex determination in a warming world - Chicken or Egg

Hilary Miller • Nov 09, 2010 •

• climate change,
• sex determination,
• tuatara,
• Uncategorized

Seeing as reptile reproduction seems to be a bit of a hot topic right now, I thought it was time to talk about sex determination in tuatara. Tuatara do things a little differently to other reptiles when it comes to sex determination – not because they have temperature-dependent sex determination (thats common to lots of […] … Read More

Tuatara tuesday – an iconic parasite for an iconic species - Chicken or Egg

Hilary Miller • Oct 26, 2010 •

• parasites,
• tuatara,
• Uncategorized

As you might expect from an animal that is so evolutionarily distant from its nearest relatives, the tuatara also has some unique parasites to call its own.  One of these is the tick Amblyomma sphenodonti (sometimes also called Aponomma sphenodonti), pictured here. Like many ticks, A. sphenodonti are host-specific, spending all three of their life stages […] … Read More

Tuatara tuesday — Spring fever - Chicken or Egg

Hilary Miller • Oct 12, 2010 •

• tuatara

I haven’t had much time for writing this week, so instead I thought I’d share this photo as a reminder to my New Zealand readers that it is actually spring, even though it doesn’t feel like it!     … Read More