| Anniella alexanderae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Anniellidae |
| Genus: | Anniella |
| Species: | A. alexanderae |
| Binomial name | |
| Anniella alexanderae Papenfuss & Parham, 2013 | |
Anniella alexanderae, also known as the temblor legless lizard, is a species of legless lizard found in California, [2]
The family Anniellidae, known as American legless lizards, contains six species in a single genus Anniella: A. pulchra, the rare A. geronimensis, and four more discovered in 2013.
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. The 47 species are placed in two subfamilies and eight genera. They have unusually long, slender bodies, giving them a strong resemblance to snakes. Like snakes and most geckos, they have no eyelids, but unlike snakes, they have external ear holes and flat, unforked tongues. They are native to Australia and New Guinea.
Delma is a genus of lizards in the family Pygopodidae. The genus Delma contains 22 valid described species, all of which are endemic to Australia.
Typhlosaurus is a genus of African lizards, one of a number of genera of limbless lizards in the skink family (Scincidae). This group was recently revised with most species formerly attributed to Typhlosaurus now placed in Acontias. The current definition of Typhlosaurus includes five attenuate body legless lizards from southwestern Africa. This is the sister genus to Acontias, which together form the well supported Afrotropical subfamily Acontinae.
The sheltopusik, also commonly called Pallas's glass lizard, the European legless lizard, or the European glass lizard, is a species of large glass lizard found from Southern Europe to Central Asia.
Many vertebrates are limbless, limb-reduced, or apodous, with a body plan consisting of a head and vertebral column, but no adjoining limbs such as legs or fins. Jawless fish are limbless but may have preceded the evolution of vertebrate limbs, whereas numerous reptile and amphibian lineages – and some eels and eel-like fish – independently lost their limbs. Larval amphibians, tadpoles, are also often limbless. No mammals or birds are limbless, but some feature partial limb-loss or limb reduction.
Legless lizard may refer to any of several groups of lizards that have independently lost limbs or reduced them to the point of being of no use in locomotion. It is the common name for the family Pygopodidae. 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. Every stage of reduction of the shoulder girdle —including complete loss— occurs among limbless squamates, but the pelvic girdle is never completely lost regardless of the degree of limb reduction or loss. At least the ilium is retained in limbless lizards and most basal snakes.
The striped legless lizard is a species of lizards in the Pygopodidae family endemic to Australia. As of 2015 it is threatened with extinction, with few habitats left.
Burton's legless lizard is a species of lizard in the family Pygopodidae. The species lacks forelegs and has only rudimentary hind legs. Pygopodid lizards are also referred to as "legless lizards", "flap-footed lizards" and "snake-lizards". This species is native to Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Platynota is a polyphyletic group of anguimorph lizards and thus belongs to the order Squamata of the class Reptilia. Since it was named in 1839, it has included several groups, including monitor lizards, snakes, mosasaurs, and helodermatids. Its taxonomic use still varies, as it is sometimes considered equivalent to the group Varanoidea and other times viewed as a distinct group. It is phylogenetically defined as a clade containing Varanidae. It also includes many extinct species.
Anniella pulchra, the California legless lizard, is a limbless, burrowing lizard often mistaken for a snake.
Gekkonomorpha is a clade of lizards that includes geckos and their closest relatives. Although it was first named in 1900, Gekkonomorpha was not widely used as a formal taxon until it was given a phylogenetic definition in the 1990s. Under this definition, Gekkonomorpha is a stem-based taxon containing the node-based taxon Gekkota, the group that includes the last common ancestor of all living geckos and its descendants. The extent of Gekkonomorpha beyond gekkotans differs between studies. For example, Lee (1998) defined Gekkonomorpha in such a way that it included not only Gekkota but the legless amphisbaenian and dibamid lizards as well. The phylogenetic analysis of Conrad (2008), which did not support a close relationship between geckos and legless lizards, used Gekkonomorpha in a much more restrictive sense so that it included only Gekkota and a few extinct lizards more closely related to Gekkota than to any other living group of lizards. Some of the most recent phylogenetic analyses suggest that the extinct lizards Gobekko and Parviraptor may be stem gekkotans, although other analyses find that Gobekko may instead be within Gekkota and Parviraptor outside Gekkonomorpha.
Isla San Jerónimo, is an island in the Pacific Ocean on the west side of the Baja California Peninsula. The island is part of the large Ensenada Municipality and accessed from Punta Baja near the community of El Rosario, Baja California.
Isla San Martín is an island in the Pacific Ocean west of the Baja California Peninsula. The island is uninhabited and is part of the Ensenada Municipality.
Robert Cyril Stebbins was an American herpetologist and illustrator known for his field guides and popular books as well as his studies of reptiles and amphibians. His Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, first published in 1966, is still considered the definitive reference of its kind, owing to both the quality of the illustrations and the comprehensiveness of the text. A professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, for over 30 years, he was the first curator of herpetology at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, a 1949 Guggenheim fellow, and author of over 70 scientific articles. His discovery of the ring species phenomenon in Ensatina salamanders is now a textbook example of speciation, and he performed extensive research on the parietal eye of reptiles. He produced nature films, supported science education in primary grades, and organized conservation efforts that aided in the passing of the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. After retirement he continued to paint, collect field notes, and write books. Stebbins is commemorated in the scientific names of three species: Batrachoseps stebbinsi, the Tehachapi slender salamander; Anniella stebbinsi, a legless lizard; and Ambystoma tigrinum stebbinsi, the endangered Sonora tiger salamander.
Anniella stebbinsi, the Southern California or San Diegan legless lizard, is a small, slender lizard, and, as the name suggests, is legless. Not much is known about the lizard as a unique species, with most observations conducted while it was not recognised as separate from Anniella pulchra, the Californian legless lizard.
Anniella campi, also known as the Southern Sierra legless lizard is a species of legless lizard found in California, specifically in the Sierra Nevada It was previously known as Anniella pulchra. It has double dark lateral stripes.
Anniella geronimensis, also known as the Baja California legless lizard, is a species of legless lizard found in Mexico.
Anniella grinnelli, also known as the Bakersfield legless lizard, is a species of legless lizard found in California,
 | This lizard article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
