Legless lizard may refer to any of several groups of

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia altho ...

s that have independently lost limbs or reduced them to the point of being of no use in locomotion.Pough ''et al.'' 1992. Herpetology: Third Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall:Pearson Education, Inc., 2002. It is the common name for the family

Pygopodidae Pygopodidae, commonly known as legless lizards, snake-lizards, or flap-footed lizards, is a family of squamates with reduced or absent limbs, and are a type of gecko. At least 35 species are placed in two subfamilies and eight genera. They hav ...

. These lizards are often distinguishable from

snakes Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

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

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of ...

s, and/or having a very long tail (while snakes have a long body and short tail). Many families of lizards have independently evolved limblessness or greatly reduced limbs (which are presumably non-functional in locomotion), including the following examples: *

Anguidae 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 ...

– 102 species, of which 17 are limbless and in the

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

'' Ophisaurus'', ''Pseudopus'' and ''

Anguis SlowwormsThe "slow-" in slowworm is distinct from the English adjective ''slow'' ("not fast"); the word comes from Old English ''slāwyrm'', where ''slā-'' means "slowworm" and ''wyrm'' means "serpent, reptile". () (also called blindworms and ha ...

'' from Eurasia and North America. * Cordylidae – an African family of 66 species, with one virtually legless genus '' Chamaesaura'', containing five species with hindlimbs reduced to small scaly protuberances. *

– all 44 species; they belong to the genera '' Aprasia'', '' Delma'', '' Lialis'', ''

Ophidiocephalus The bronzeback snake-lizard (''Ophidiocephalus taeniatus'') is a species of lizards in the family Pygopodidae Pygopodidae, commonly known as legless lizards, snake-lizards, or flap-footed lizards, is a family of squamates with reduced or abs ...

'', '' Paradelma'', ''

Pletholax Pletholax (Keeled Legless Lizard) is a legless lizard occurring in Western Australia. Species Two species are recognized as being valid. *'' Pletholax gracilis'' - slender slider *'' Pletholax edelensis'' - Edel land slider ''Nota bene'': A b ...

'' and '' Pygopus''. All are endemic to Australia, except the two species of ''Lialis'', which also occur in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

, one of which is endemic to that island. Pygopodids are not strictly legless since, although they lack forelimbs, they possess hindlimbs that are greatly reduced to small digitless flaps, hence the often used common names of "flap-footed lizards" or "scaly-foot". The pygopodids are considered an advanced evolutionary

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

of the

Gekkota Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

, which also contains six families of

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos a ...

s. *

Dibamidae 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 ...

– all 23 species in the family, which comprises the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

Mexican genus '' Anelytropsis'' and the Southeast Asian genus ''

Dibamus ''Dibamus'' is a genus of legless lizards in the family Dibamidae. Neang T, Holden J, Eastoe T, Seng R, Ith S, Grismer LL (2011). "A new species of ''Dibamus'' (Squamata: Dibamidae) from Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, southwestern Cardamom ...

''. All are limbless burrowers that are nearly or completely blind. * Anniellidae – comprising the single genus '' Anniella'', which contains six legless lizards that inhabit central / southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, Mexico. * Gymnophthalmidae – a large

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

family containing many species with reduced limbs, the most extreme being the 23 species in the genus ''

Bachia :''"Bachia"'' as described by Förster in 1869 is now the cryptine wasp genus '' Bachiana''. ''Bachia'' is a genus of lizards that belong to the spectacled lizards family.saltatory "figure-8" flicks with the body and tail. * Scincidae – commonly known as skinks, the largest lizard family with over 1500 species, of which many are limbless and nearly-limbless species, including (but not confined to) the genera ''

Acontias ''Acontias'' is a genus of limbless skinks, the lance skinks, (family Scincidae) in the African subfamily Acontinae.Branch 2004. Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is '' Acontias plumbeus'' at approximately snout-vent ...

'', '' Feylinia'', ''

Melanoseps ''Melanoseps'' is a genus of lizards, known Common name, commonly as limbless skinks, in the Family (biology), family Scincidae. The genus is Endemism, endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa. Species The following eight species are recognized as being v ...

'', ''

Paracontias ''Paracontias'' is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus is endemic to Madagascar. Taxonomy and systematics ''Paracontias'' is usually placed in the subfamily Scincinae, which seems to be paraphyletic however. Probably ...

'' and '' Typhlosaurus'' from Africa, ''Lerista'' from Australia, and some species in the genera ''

Chalcides ''Chalcides'' is a genus of skinks (family Scincidae). It is usually placed in the subfamily Scincinae (= Scincidae ''sensu'' Hedges 2014), a monophyletic clade of primarily African skinks. Species The following species are recognized as be ...

'' from southern Europe and North Africa, and ''

Scelotes ''Scelotes'' is a genus of small African skinks. Species The following 21 species are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org *'' Scelotes anguinus'' (Boulenger, 1887) – Algoa dwarf burrowing skink, Boulenger's burrowing skink, *' ...

'' from southern Africa. *

Amphisbaenia Amphisbaenia (called amphisbaenians or worm lizards) 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 ...

- comprising over 180 extant species, most of which are legless.

References

{{reflist

See also

References