A strange reptile, the last survivor of an ancient lineage, has been nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in 200 years.

Tuatara live free on a number of islands off the coast, where there are no rats to eat their eggs, but this is the first sign that those in a fenced sanctuary in the capital Wellington are breeding (coverage from AP, NZ Herald).

“This time last year we found a gravid [egg-carrying] female” says sanctuary manager Raewyn Empson (press release, mirror site).

“We knew of two suspected nests but didn’t want to disturb them to confirm whether or not they contained eggs. The nest in this photo was uncovered by accident, and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara are breeding. It suggests that there may be other nests in the Sanctuary we don’t know of.”

The New Zealand Department of Conservation says:

They are the only extant members of the Order Sphenodontia, which was well represented by many species during the age of the dinosaurs, some 200 million years ago. All species apart from the tuatara declined and eventually became extinct about 60 million years ago.

In other tuatara news, a raid last month on Hamilton Zoo in New Zealand saw thieves smash their way into the reptile enclosure. Although the criminals failed to get into the tuatara cage they did make off with Madagascar day geckos and bearded dragons (Waikato Times).

Image: Karori Sanctuary