Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Hatteria
‖
Hat-te′ri-a
(hăt-tē′rĭ-ȧ)
, Noun.
[NL.]
(Zool.)
A New Zealand lizard, which, in anatomical character, differs widely from all other existing lizards. It is the only living representative of the order
Rhynchocephala
, of which many Mesozoic fossil species are known; – called also Sphenodon
, tuatara
, and Tuatera
. Definition 2024
hatteria
hatteria
See also: Hatteria
English
Noun
hatteria (plural hatterias)
- (dated) The tuatara.
- 1891, Julia McNair Wright, Nature Readers: Sea-side and Way-side (issue 4, page 163)
- The skull of the hatteria is more like that of a crocodile than like that of any other reptile; but on the other hand its legs are like those of the lizard […]
- 1902, Animal Life and the World of Nature
- A Red-breasted Water lizard, appropriately christened “Robin,” seemed more especially to excite its ire in the vain pursuit of which the hatteria would rush out from its lair with angry gruntings whenever that lizard chanced to trespass too closely […]
- 1975, Pierre Paul Grassé, Larousse Encyclopedia of the Animal World (page 407)
- This association favours the hatterias which feed on the numerous insects attracted by the birds' excrement.
- 1891, Julia McNair Wright, Nature Readers: Sea-side and Way-side (issue 4, page 163)