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The name Silurian is a misnomer and in the original story was coined and used exclusively by humans. The misnomer arose because the race was identified as belonging to the Silurian period when first encountered in the in the Third Doctor serial Doctor Who and the Silurians. The Doctor, in a later serial, mentions that Silurians should more properly be called Eocenes. However, that term appears to be equally inaccurate. The Silurians are seen using dinosaurs as guard animals, and by the Eocene, dinosaurs had long become extinct (although there is some merit to the suggestion that the primitive Silurians co-existed with dinosaurs and their domesticated versions survived with them). In some of the New Adventures novels, the term "Earth Reptile" is offered as the "modern" term for them. Whichever period the Silurians actually belong to, it is the first name applied to them that has stuck.

Silurians are reptilian humanoids, are cold-blooded and scaly, with yellow eyes and oval mouths. They are also possessed of a red third eye that has various abilities, such as stunning or killing their opponents; signalling each other, or to open doors keyed to emanations from the third eye. The eye glows when it is active.

In their first appearance in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a group of Silurians were awakened from hibernationSuspended animation is the technical term for the slowing without termination of life processes by external means. Outside science fiction, the technique is hypothetical. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can by the energy from a nearby nuclear power research centre. The Silurians then attempted reclaim the planet from humanity by releasing a deadly virusA common alternate meaning of virus is computer virus. Other meanings, as well as a discussion of pluralization, are at plural of virus''. bacteriophage (left center); an animal virus (top right); and a retrovirus (bottom right). Viruses depend on the hos and attempting to disperse part of the Van Allen Belt. Both plans, however, were thwarted by the Doctor. Despite the Doctor's best efforts to broker a peaceful solution, the Silurian base was destroyed by UNITDoctor Who The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (also known as UNIT is a fictional military organization from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who''. Operating under the auspices of the United Nations, its purpose is to investigat on Brigadier Lethbridge-StewartBrigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who played by Nicholas Courtney. He works for UNIT U nited N ations I ntelligence T askforce), an international organisation that's order.

Another group of Silurians turned up in the 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe serial, Warriors of the Deep , where they allied with their aquatic cousins, the Sea Devil s, in a second attempt to reclaim Earth from the humans. Curiously on this occasion the creatures used the terms "Silurians" and "Sea Devils" to refer to themselves, despite these terms previously being purely human phrases.