Amphisbaenia is a group of usually legless squamates, 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. Although superficially similar to other limbless vertebrates including the snakes, legless lizards, and blind lizards, recent phylogenetic studies suggest that they are most closely related to wall lizards of the 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.
Anguidae refers to a large and diverse family of lizards native to the Northern Hemisphere. Common characteristics of this group include a reduced supratemporal arch, striations on the medial faces of tooth crowns, osteoderms, and a lateral fold in the skin of most taxa. The group is divided into two living subfamilies, the legless Anguinae, which contains slow worms and glass lizards, among others, found across the Northern Hemisphere, and Gerrhonotinae, which contains the alligator lizards, native to North and Central America. The family Diploglossidae was also formerly included. The family contains about 87 species in 8 genera.
The genus Cordylus includes a wide variety of species of small to medium spiny lizards from Africa, collectively called girdle-tailed lizards or girdled lizards. All are diurnal and ovoviviparous. Most species are rupicolous (rock-dwelling), while a few species are arboreal or live in burrows. They defend themselves with osteoderms and by quickly retreating into rock crevices or burrows. Many species live in groups, and males defend territories.
Acontias is a genus of limbless skinks, the lance skinks, in the African subfamily Acontinae. Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is Acontias plumbeus at approximately 40 cm (16 in) snout-vent length. All members of this genus are live-bearing sandswimmers, with fused eyelids. A recent review moved species that were formerly placed in the genera Typhlosaurus, Acontophiops, and Microacontias into this genus, as together these form a single branch in the tree of life. This new concept of Acontias is a sister lineage to Typhlosaurus, and these two genera are the only genera within the subfamily Acontinae.
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.
Slowworms are a small genus (Anguis) of snake-like legless lizards in the family Anguidae. The genus has several living species, including the common slowworm, the eastern slowworm, the Greek slowworm, the Peloponnese slowworm, and the Italian slowworm. There are also known fossil species.
Pseudopus is a genus of anguid lizards that are native to Eurasia. One extant species remains, the sheltopusik, with four fossil species. They are the most robust members of subfamily Anguinae. The oldest fossils of the group date to the Early Miocene, but there are possible Oligocene records.
The slender glass lizard is a legless lizard in the glass lizard subfamily (Anguinae). The species is endemic to the United States. Two subspecies are recognized. The lizard was originally believed to be a subspecies of the eastern glass lizard. Their name comes from their easily broken tail which they can break off themselves without ever being touched. It is difficult to find a specimen with an undamaged tail. The lizard eats a variety of insects and small animals, including smaller lizards. Snakes and other animals are known to prey on the species. Humans have a part in destroying their environment and killing their food supply with insecticides. The lizard is considered to be a least-concern species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), though it is vulnerable in Iowa and endangered in Wisconsin. It is important to note that the streamlined, legless species is often confused with snakes. Glass Lizards, however, differ from snakes as they possess a moveable eyelid, which is absent in snakes. Another way to distinguish glass lizards from snakes is the presence of an external ear opening, which are absent in snakes.
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.
The slow worm is a reptile native to western Eurasia. It is also called a deaf adder, a slowworm, a blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple and hazelworm. These legless lizards are also sometimes called common slowworms. The "blind" in blindworm refers to the lizard's small eyes, similar to a blindsnake.
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. They first appeared in Europe during the early Eocene, around 48–49 million years ago, originating from North American ancestors that crossed over from Greenland via Thule Land Bridge and spread toward Asia sometime after the drying of the Turgai Strait at the beginning of the Oligocene, and then across the Bering Land Bridge to North America during the Miocene. Very vestigial hindlegs are present in Hyalosaurus and Pseudopus, but are entirely absent in the other genera. Members of the group largely feed on insects and other invertebrates. The largest living species, the Sheltopusik, can reach lengths of 120 centimetres (47 in).
Dopasia gracilis, known commonly as the Asian glass lizard, the Burmese glass lizard, or the Indian glass snake, is a species of legless lizard in the family Anguidae. The species is endemic to Asia.
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.
Koelliker's glass lizard, also called commonly the Moroccan glass lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Anguidae. The species is native to western North Africa.
The Anguimorpha is a suborder of squamates. The group was named by Fürbringer in 1900 to include all autarchoglossans closer to Varanus and Anguis than Scincus. These lizards, along with iguanians and snakes, constitute the proposed "venom clade" Toxicofera of all venomous reptiles.
The eastern glass lizard is a species of legless lizard in the family Anguidae, 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, both of which are absent in snakes. Ventralis comes from the Latin "venter" meaning belly; this is in reference to the snake-like movement.
The mimic (rainbow) glass lizard is a species of lizard in the family Anguidae. The species is endemic to the Southeastern United States. The mimic glass lizard is dark brown to black with a dark middorsal stripe down the body and on most of the tail. They have 3-4 dark stripes separated by pale stripes above the lateral grooves. They have a very distinct anatomy of the axis specifically when it comes to their second vertebra which could be attributed to an ecological adaptation, feeding, and/or defensive behavior that requires high head and neck mobility.
Dopasia is a genus of lizards in the family Anguidae. The genus contains seven species, which are native to Asia. They are most closely related to the North American Ophisaurus, and are sometimes considered part of that genus.
