THE 59th QUIZ - REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS

1. Roughly translating as ‘scaly’, which order, that includes lizards and snakes, is, with approximately 7,900 species, the largest order of extant reptiles?
2. During which geological period during the Palaeozoic Era did the first amphibians develop from fish similar to the modern coelacanth?
3. Tomistoma schlegelii is a fresh-water reptile, resembling a crocodile with a very thin and elongated snout. Although it had long been classed in the family Crocodylidae, recent immunological studies have meant it has been reclassed in the family Gavialidae. It is native to Sumatra and Malaysia and is also found in Borneo, Java, Vietnam and Thailand. What is its common name?
4. Many members of the families Bombinatoridae, Discoglossidae, Pelobatidae, Rhinophrynidae, Scaphiopodidae, and some species from the Microhylidae family are commonly, but erroneously, called ‘toads’. According to scientists, all true toads belong to which family, the only one that is exclusively given the common name ‘toad’?
5. The two species of reptiles of the genus tuatara (from which they get their common name), Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri are the only surviving members of the order Sphenodontia. They are found in the wild in just one country. Which one?
6. Extant amphibians fall into one of three orders - the Anura (frogs and toads), the Caudata or Urodela (salamanders and newts), and the Gymnophiona or Apoda. Found throughout Africa, Asia and South America, what is the common name given to the limbless, snake-like amphibians that comprise this last order?
7. The villain Tokka from the 1991 film ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze’ was a mutated variety of which species of turtle, Macrochelys temminckii, found throughout the watershed of the Mississippi River from Florida to South Dakota, and notable as the largest species of freshwater turtle in North America?
8. It is the only species in the genus Proteus and the only European species of the family Proteidae. Also known as the proteus, what is the common name for the amphibian Proteus anguinu, notable for its blindness, caused by adaptation to a life of complete darkness in its underground habitat, that is native to the subterranean waters of the Dinaric karst that flow through the Soča river basin near Trieste in Italy, through to southern Slovenia, southwestern Croatia, and Herzegovina?
9. Which alcoholic beverage indigenous to and unique to Okinawa in Japan is alternatively known as Habu sake because of the practice of placing a venomous habu snake in it, which, it is claimed, increases its potency?
10. Recent scientific evidence put forward by East Carolina University has shown that the increasing rarity of the Rio Santiago Poison Frog can be explained by the slowing of its reproduction rates. The university researchers believe that this decrease in reproduction rates is linked to an increase in what?
11. Its common name taken from the group of islands in the Pacific Ocean where it is found but also known as Guichenot's Giant Gecko or Eyelash Gecko, which species of gecko, Rhacodactylus ciliatus, had long been thought extinct until it was ‘rediscovered’ in 1994?
12. Which labyrinthodont amphibian, of the extinct order Temnospondyli, whose fossil remains are known from the Permian of the South African Karoo Basin, has a name meaning ‘nose crocodile’ and was depicted as a crocodile-like creature in the 2005 BBC series ‘Walking With Monsters?’
13. Deriving from the Ancient Greek χελώνα, meaning ‘tortoise’, what word is popular among veterinarians, scientists, and conservationists as a catch-all name for any member of the order Testudines, that comprises tortoises, turtles and terrapins?
14. Found almost exclusively in the Western Hemisphere, Plethodontid salamanders are unique amongst salamanders because of their lack of which bodily organs?
15. Sharing its name with a Marvel Comics supervillain, which snake, native to sub-Saharan African, is the only extant species in the genus Dispholidus and has a name meaning ‘tree snake’ in both Dutch and Afrikaans?
16. What was the common name of Lithobates fisheri, a frog species that was last recorded in 1942 and thought to have been the only North American amphibian to have become extinct in the 20th Century?
17. There are only two species of alligator. Each is native to just one country and each takes its common name from that of the country in which in lives. What are the common names of these two species?
18. Which North American aquatic salamander, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, has been given the vernacular names ‘devil dog’ and ‘Allegheny alligator’ because folklore claims that it smears fishing lines with slime, drives game fish away, and inflicts a painful, poisonous bite? Its common name also reflects this misguided fear of an entirely harmless species.
19. This North American lizard is well known for its ability to run on its hind legs, looking like a small dinosaur. It has been recorded running in this way at speeds of up to 16 mph. It is the state reptile of Oklahoma, in which state it is often known as the Mountain Boomer. By what name is it commonly known elsewhere?
20. Cnemidophorus vanzoi is a whiptail - a species of lizard in the Teiidae family - that is found exclusively on which 239 square mile island nation of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea?


Answers:


1. SQUAMATA
2. DEVONIAN
3. FALSE GHARIAL (or MALAYAN GHARIAL)
4. BUFONIDAE
5. NEW ZEALAND
6. CAECILIANS
7. ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE
8. OLM
9. AWAMORI
10. HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOUR
11. NEW CALEDONIAN CRESTED GECKO
12. RHINESUCHUS
13. CHELONIAN
14. LUNGS
15. BOOMSLANG
16. VEGAS VALLEY LEOPARD FROG
17. AMERICAN ALLIGATOR and CHINESE ALLIGATOR
18. HELLBENDER
19. COLLARED LIZARD
20. ST LUCIA