Also (erron.) tuatera, -tura. [Maori, f. tua on the back + tara spine (Webster, 1911).] A large lizard, Sphenodon punctatum or Hatteria punctata, dark bronze green in color with white or yellowish specks, and having a dorsal row of yellow spines, formerly common in New Zealand: see quot. 1911.
[1820. Gram. & Voc. N. Zealand, 218 (Morris). Túa tára, a species of lizard.]
1890. Catal. N. Zealand Exhib. (ibid.). The Tuatara is the largest existing New Zealand reptile. It … is placed … in a separate order (Rhyncocephalina).
1911. C. de Thierry, in United Empire, March, 183. One of the peculiar animals from which scientists have estimated the probable age of New Zealand is the tuatara, a small lizard about a foot in length and of a dark bronze colour. It is extinct on the mainland but is still to be found on the shores of the outlying islands.
1914. Chamb. Jrnl., Nov., 750/2. The extraordinary characteristic of the tuatara is its capacity for perfect rest, and its apparent power of existing without food or water.
