Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Pygopodidae, commonly known as snake-lizards, or flap-footed lizards, are a family of legless lizards with reduced or absent limbs, and are a type of gecko. [2] The 47 species are placed in two subfamilies and eight genera. They have unusually long, slender bodies, giving them a strong resemblance to snakes.
Slender glass lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus)Ophisaurus (from the Greek 'snake-lizard') is a genus of superficially snake-like legless lizards in the subfamily Anguinae.Known as joint snakes, glass snakes, or glass lizards, they are so-named because their tails are easily broken; like many lizards, they have the ability to deter predation by dropping off part of the tail, which can break into ...
Anguinae is a subfamily of legless lizards in the family Anguidae, commonly called glass lizards, glass snakes or slow worms. The first two names come from the fact their tails easily break or snap off. Members of Anguinae are native to North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa.
Snakes evolved from lizards, Beane said, because over time, some lizards adopted a lifestyle that didn’t require legs. Similarly, there are snakes with tiny limbs that they hardly ever use.
The eastern glass lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis) is a species of legless lizard in the family Anguidae and the longest and heaviest species of glass lizards in the genus Ophisaurus, [5] [failed verification] endemic to the Southeastern United States. The streamlined, legless species is often confused with snakes.
The scaly-foot is snake-like in appearance, up to 80 cm in length with a noticeable "keel" or ridge on the top. Variable in colours and pattern, it occasionally is grey with black spots or [1] sometimes coppery brown with a grey tail. Other patterns and variations occur.
[5] [6] [7] The species does this in apparent mimicry of venomous snakes, to deter predators. [5] [6] [7] The markings on the hooded scaly-foot resemble those of young brown snakes. [6] When grasped, they struggle fiercely, rotating their bodies and uttering long squeaking sounds. [6] They readily shed their tails and will regenerate a new one.
These lizards are often distinguishable from snakes on the basis of one or more of the following characteristics: possessing eyelids, possessing external ear openings, lack of broad belly scales, notched rather than forked tongue, having two more-or-less-equal lungs, and/or having a very long tail (while snakes have a long body and short tail). [1]