The Lepidosauria is a subclass or superorder of reptiles, containing the orders Squamata and Rhynchocephalia. Squamata includes lizards and snakes. Squamata contains over 9,000 species, making it by far the most species-rich and diverse order of non-avian reptiles in the present day. Rhynchocephalia was a formerly widespread and diverse group of reptiles in the Mesozoic Era. However, it is represented by only one living species: the tuatara, a superficially lizard-like reptile native to New Zealand.
Amphisbaenia is a group of typically legless lizards, comprising over 200 extant species. Amphisbaenians are characterized by their long bodies, the reduction or loss of the limbs, and rudimentary eyes. As many species have a pink body and scales arranged in rings, they have a superficial resemblance to earthworms. While the genus Bipes retains forelimbs, all other genera are limbless. Phylogenetic studies suggest that they are nested within Lacertoidea, closely related to the lizard family Lacertidae. Amphisbaenians are widely distributed, occurring in North America, Europe, Africa, South America, Western Asia and the Caribbean. Most species are less than 6 inches (15 cm) long.
Dibamidae or blind skinks is a family of lizards characterized by their elongated cylindrical body and an apparent lack of limbs. Female dibamids are entirely limbless and the males retain small flap-like hind limbs, which they use to grip their partner during mating. They have a rigidly fused skull, lack pterygoid teeth and external ears. Their eyes are greatly reduced, and covered with a scale.
The Uropeltidae, also commonly known as shield-tail snakes, shield-tailed snakes or earth snakes, are a family of primitive, nonvenomous, burrowing snakes native to Peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the Greek words ura ('tail') and pelte ('shield'), indicating the presence of the large keratinous shield at the tip of the tail. Seven or eight genera are recognized, depending on whether Teretrurus rhodogaster is treated in its own genus or as part of Brachyophidium. The family comprises over 50 species. These snakes are not well known in terms of their diversity, biology, and natural history.
Bipes is a genus of amphisbaenians found only in Mexico, the sole living member of the family Bipedidae. They are carnivorous, burrowing reptiles, but unlike other species of amphisbaenians, they possess two stubby forelimbs placed far forward on the body. They also retain an almost complete pectoral girdle. The shovel-like limbs are used to scrape away soil while burrowing, in a manner similar to a mole. Evidence for their occurrence in the United States is reviewed by Somma (1993).
The Amphisbaenidae are a family of amphisbaenians, a group of limbless vertebrates.
A fossorial animal is one that is adapted to digging and which lives primarily underground. Examples of fossorial vertebrates are badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamanders. Among invertebrates, many molluscs, insects, and arachnids are fossorial.
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.
Trogonophidae is a small family of amphisbaenians, containing five species in four genera.
The common garden skink is a small species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Australia. Additional common names for L. guichenoti include grass skink, Guichenot's grass skink, pale-flecked garden sunskink, and penny lizard.
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.
Rhineura floridana, known commonly as the Florida worm lizard, graveyard snake, or thunderworm, is a species of amphisbaenian in the family Rhineuridae. The species is the only extant member of the genus Rhineura, and is found primarily in Florida but has been recorded in Lanier County, Georgia. There are no subspecies that are recognized as being valid.
Amphisbaena fuliginosa, also known as the black-and-white worm lizard, speckled worm lizard or spotted worm lizard, is a species of amphisbaenian in the genus Amphisbaena. The ecology of A. fuliginosa is poorly known due to its fossorial habits. However, this species can be easily distinguished from others because of its characteristic white and black mosaic pattern that covers both the dorsal and ventral side.
The Iberian worm lizard, Mediterranean worm lizard, or European worm lizard is a species of reptile in the family Blanidae of the clade Amphisbaenia. The Iberian worm lizard is locally known as cobra-cega (Portuguese), culebrilla ciega (Spanish), and colobreta cega (Catalan), all meaning "blind snake". Recent studies into the mitochondrial and nuclear genomic data of 47 isolated B. cinereus populations show rather large sequence divergence between two apparent clades, leading some researchers to call for a division of the Iberian worm lizard into two species. While little is known of B. cinereus in comparison with some other reptile species, new insight is growing about this primitive, ancestral reptile.
Blanus, also known as worm lizards, are a genus of amphisbaenians found in the Mediterranean region of Europe and North Africa. Like other amphisbaenians, Blanus species are specialized for a subterranean existence, with long, slender bodies, reduced limbs, and rudimentary eyes. Their skulls are powerfully constructed, allowing them to push through soil to create a burrow. Their jaws are well-developed, with large, recurved teeth and a pair of canine-like teeth in the upper jaw.
The eastern glass lizard is a species of legless lizard in the family Anguidae and the longest and heaviest species of glass lizards in he genus Ophisaurus, endemic to the Southeastern United States. The streamlined, legless species is often confused with snakes. Glass lizards differ from snakes as they possess a moveable eyelid and an external ear opening as well as a lateral groove that separates the different types of scales on the animal, all three of these features are absent in snakes. Snakes also have flexible jaws while lizards do not. Ventralis comes from the Latin "venter" meaning belly; this is in reference to the snake-like movement.
Amphisbaena alba, also known as the red worm lizard or less commonly as the white or white-bellied worm lizard, is a species of amphisbaenian in the reptilian order Squamata. Despite the large geographic range that this species covers, little is known about its ecology due to its secretive habits. A. alba has a diverse diet ranging from plant material to small vertebrates. Numerically, beetles, ants, and spiders compose the majority of their diet; however, ants, insect larvae, beetles, cockroaches, hemipterans, mole crickets, crickets, grasshoppers, termites, spiders, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and annelids are ingested to satisfy a larger volume. The females are somewhat larger than the males, and can reach over 80 cm, which is quite large for an amphisbaenian. They are known to bury themselves in leafcutter ant nests and hide in the ants' garbage dump areas to avoid irritating the ants into attacking, and to bury themselves to avoid predation in general.
Bipedidae is a family of amphisbaenians that includes the extant genus Bipes represented by three species from Baja California and the southern coast of Mexico and the extinct genus Anniealexandria represented by one species that lived in what is now Wyoming during the earliest Eocene around 55 million years ago. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Bipedidae is most closely related to the family Blanidae, which includes the living genus Blanus.
The Bahia worm lizard is a worm lizard species in the family Amphisbaenidae. It is endemic to Brazil.
Monopeltis capensis, also known commonly as the Cape spade-snouted worm lizard, the Cape wedge-snouted worm lizard, the Cape worm lizard, and the South African shield-snouted amphisbaenian, is a species of amphisbaenian in the family Amphisbaenidae. The species is native to southern Africa.
