New Limbless Lizard Species Found

[kewskills]

visit Here to read and see this new beauty.
i know its not a household pet but didn;t know where else to put it.
i thought there are a few snake/lizard keepers on this forum that would appreciate this

 

[QuotheRaven]

Limbless lizards have always fascinated me...as a novice in the world of reptiles I wonder how it is classified as a lizard rather than a snake?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

from that link

These animals lost the use of their limbs some time after snakes and lizards split onto separate evolutionary paths. The creatures are distinct because they retain lizard characteristics that are completely missing from serpents—such as eyelids and external ears

never even heard of limbless lizards before, looks cool though

 

[Erised]

It should have been put where you put your 'O'er Makes Ya Skin Crawl' thread, under general hobbies - Natural World
It does look pretty
I wonder though, how can they tell it's a lizard and not a snake? I assume it's from DNA comparisons with other lizards?

 

[shrimply]

Sorry but I just had to say this

i know its not a household pet

It will be if I get my hands on one.

and Miss Wiggle ain't you ever heard of the slow worm, britian has its very own legless lizard

 

[SoCalMom]

My local reptile shop has a legless lizard for sale. It's been there for awhile

 

[catherine896]

Erised - These animals lost the use of their limbs some time after snakes and lizards split onto separate evolutionary paths. The creatures are distinct because they retain lizard characteristics that are completely missing from serpents—such as eyelids and external ears

Thats in the link.

How weird lol!

 

[kewskills]

It should have been put where you put your 'O'er Makes Ya Skin Crawl' thread, under general hobbies - Natural World
It does look pretty
I wonder though, how can they tell it's a lizard and not a snake? I assume it's from DNA comparisons with other lizards?

thanks Erised just a bit dim thats all, didn't see it today

 

[grahamsokel]

Now that is nice,I have always been interested in legless lizards but none ever pop up near me

 

[Synirr]

Legless lizards have a very distinctly different head shape than that of any snake, if you are used to seeing snakes it's very easy to tell them apart
This is the European one:

And a Cali one:

 

[guppy_man]

but didn't snakes used to be lizards many many years ago?, i thought all snakes were classed as limbless and legless lizards?

if you look on any snake you can usually feel where the legs would of been.

that first pic you posted synirr looks alot like a dinosaur's head, dont you think.

 

[K.J.]

WTF is that first picture of the snake doing Synirr?

 

[Synirr]

Some more primitive snakes, like pythons, still have vestigial limbs

Snakes and lizards diverged evolutionarily long ago, before snakes lost their legs, I believe, and there are many differences between the two aside from the limbs. Even if snakes still had walking legs they would certainly not be in the same taxonomic family as lizards. Lizards belong to the suborder Lacertilia/Sauria, whereas snakes are the suborder Serpentes. Legless lizards are a different suborder altogether, Amphisbaenia. They are all in the order Squamata, however. The differences between them involve basic physical and biological characteristics, like whether the eyes have eyelids, as those of lizards do, and whether they can dislocate their jaw to aid in swallowing meals, as snakes can.

EDIT:

WTF is that first picture of the snake doing Synirr?

Eating an egg

 

[K.J.]

Oh, teehee. I thought it was bulimic.

 

[kewskills]

Oh, teehee. I thought it was bulimic.