Tuatara ***** A reptile of up to 2 feet in length which still ***** on some 16 islands, mostly off the North Auckland Bay of Plenty and Cook Strait. Tuataras once North Island mainland, but have long disappeared. Of a group of a ***** lizard, but the sole survivor It is truly a ***** akin to the fossil Dinosaurs. of the survival of the most remarkable instances million of ***** elsewhere became extinct many. July 18, 1949.