the.com/herpetile
the catch-all for cold creatures that slither, croak, and outlive your assumptions about scaly things
means An informal collective term for reptiles and amphibians — the snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles, and salamanders studied together as a single scaly-and-slimy grab-bag.
from A modern coinage built backward from "herpetology," the study of reptiles and amphibians. That parent word comes from Greek herpeton, "a creeping thing," from herpein, "to creep or crawl" — possibly a distant cousin of Latin serpere (which gives us "serpent"). The hobbyist clipping "herp" came first; "herptile" and "herpetile" followed as friendlier names for the whole creeping clan, blending herp with "reptile."
- old word
- Greek herpeton means a creature that crawls
- two camps
- Covers both reptiles and amphibians together
- breath gap
- Amphibians can breathe through their skin
- deep time
- Predate dinosaurs by tens of millions of years
- fan term
- Pet keepers shorten it to herps
tuatara — reptile from new zealand with three eyes, unchanged for 200 million years
komodo dragon — world's largest living lizard, found only on indonesian islands, weighs up to 150 kg
king cobra — world's longest venomous snake, native to southeast asia, reaches 11 feet long
saltwater crocodile — largest living reptile, found in australia and southeast asia, weighs over 1000 kg