Australian Museum Collections

Herpetology

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Vertebrate Collections: Herpetology

Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians. Reptiles include snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles and tortoises. Amphibians include frogs, salamanders and caecilians. The two groups of animals are only distantly related but have traditionally been placed together as a research discipline.

Reptiles are cold-blooded animals that have:

• scaly skin
• long robust ribs that encircle their internal organs
• 'live' young or lay shelled eggs

Amphibians are cold-blooded animals that typically have:

• soft skin containing mucus and poison glands
• short straight ribs that do not encircle their internal organs
• a two phase life cycle that has an aquatic larval stage and an air-breathing adult stage

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