Reptiles and frogs of the Eastern Highlands Reptiles and frogs of the Eastern Highlands The reptiles and frogs of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and Mozambique mark a biodiversity hotspot for herpetofauna. Diverse frog and reptile communities include endemic species. The Eastern Highlands extend 300 kilometres (190 mi) along Zimbabwe's eastern border with Mozambique. There are two broadly defined high-altitude ecological habitats in the Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic; a wet lowland forest ecology predominates the eastern side of the mountain ranges, while a more arid ecology dominates the western side. The Highlands have a more equable climate than Zimbabwe's central plateau, with higher rainfall, low cloud
Evolution of reptiles skull with holes only for the nose, eyes, spinal cord, etc.; the discoveries of synapsid-like openings in the skull roof of the skulls of several members of Parareptilia, including lanthanosuchoids, millerettids, bolosaurids, some nycteroleterids, some procolophonoids and at least some mesosaurs made it more ambiguous and it's currently uncertain whether the ancestral reptile had an anapsid-like or synapsid-like skull. Very soon after the first reptiles appeared, they split into two branches. One branch, Synapsida (including modern mammals), had one opening in the skull roof behind each eye. The other branch, Sauropsida, is itself divided into two main groups. One of