Rhynchocephalia is an
order of
lizard-like reptiles that includes only two living species of
tuatara (
Sphenodon punctatus and
Sphenodon guntheri), which only inhabit parts of New Zealand. Despite its current lack of diversity, the Rhynchocephalia at one time included a wide array of genera in several families, and represents a lineage stretching back to the
Mesozoic Era. Many of the niches occupied by
lizards today were then held by sphenodontians. There were even several successful groups of aquatic sphenodontians such as
pleurosaurs and the bizarre
Ankylosphenodon.