Amphibian or Reptile?

Which am I?




“Herpetofauna” refers collectively to both amphibian and reptile species, which are actually two separate zoological classes.  These two distinct groups of animals, although separated by a very long evolutionary history, can share characteristics that lead to confusion between the groups.  The European species are of a comparable size and some, for example newts and lizards, superficially resemble each other. The picture above shows a common lizard, which is a land based reptile.  The picture below is a palmate newt which is land and water based and so an amphibian.

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Find out more about Amphibians and the species native to Sussex
Find out more about Reptiles and the species native to Sussex

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About Herps

The general biology of all the UK species is summarised in Frazer (1983) and described in field guides (e.g. Arnold et al 1978). The Herpetofauna Worker’s Manual (Gent & Gibson eds. 1998) provides an excellent introduction to the species.  The following material is a summary of the introduction to the ecology of herpetofauna by Jim Foster (then of Froglife) as published in Bray and Gent (eds. 1997)