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Reptilia

Reptilia

1 6.8
A group of cold-blooded, air-breathing animals with dry scaly skin that lay shelled eggs, like snakes and turtles
  • noun
  • /rɛpˈtɪliə/
  • Specialized
: Reptilia
  • Biologists study the traits of Reptilia to understand how these animals adapt to their environments.

Examples

  • The Reptilia class includes various species that are known for their scaly skin.

  • They didn't sit there like the reptilia of court, faces motionless, fangs momentarily retracted.

    Anonymous (2011)

  • Snakes, lizards, and turtles are all classified as Reptilia in the animal kingdom.

Synonyms

reptile
vsReptilia
100 1.8

A cold-blooded animal with dry scaly skin that lays soft-shelled eggs on land, like a snake or lizard

is the formal scientific class name for the same group

Surface Forms

Reptilia singular
Reptilias plural

Morphology

Reptilia = reptile (transparent) = reptile + ia

Formed from 'reptile' + the Neo‑Latin suffix '-ia' for taxonomic class names; learners who know 'reptile' can readily infer it denotes the group of reptiles.

Etymology

Reptilia comes from the Latin reptilis, from repere meaning 'to crawl'. It names the group of scaly animals that crawl, like snakes and lizards, so the origin explains why the class is for those cold-blooded, scaly creatures.