Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first reptiles emerged from the steaming swamps of the late Carboniferous period approximately 310 to 320 million years ago. These early ancestors evolved from advanced reptiliomorph tetrapods that were increasingly adapted to life on dry land.
J.N. Laurenti was the first to formally use the term Reptilia for an expanded selection of reptiles and amphibians basically similar to that of Linnaeus. This occurred before the beginning of the 19th century when it became clear that reptiles and amphibians are quite different animals.
For many lizards, the optimum body temperature range falls in the 25 to 30 degrees Celsius range. Extreme heat-adapted species, like the American desert iguana Dipsosaurus dorsalis, can have optimal physiological temperatures in the mammalian range, between 35 to 40 degrees Celsius.
Snakes do not possess an outer ear, a middle ear, and a tympanum but have an inner ear structure with cochleas directly connected to their jawbone. They are able to feel the vibrations generated from the sound waves in their jaw as they move on the ground using mechanoreceptors that run along the body of snakes.
Varanus priscus was a giant carnivorous goanna lizard that was perhaps as long as 7 meters and weighed up to 1,940 kilograms. This species represents one of the largest reptiles known to have existed.
The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs went on display to the public in south London as soon as 1854. This occurred shortly after the English palaeontologist Richard Owen coined the name dinosaur in 1842.