glass snake

Glass Lizard
Eastern glass lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Anguidae
Genus:	Ophisaurus Daudin, 1803[1]
Species
See text.

The glass lizards or glass snakes, genus Ophisaurus, (from the Greek 'snake-lizard') are a group of reptiles that resemble snakes, but are actually lizards. Although most species have no legs, their head shape and the fact that they have movable eyelids and external ear openings identify them as lizards. A few species have very small stub-like legs near the rear vent. These animals are also known as Glass Snakes or Jointed Snakes. They reach lengths of up to 4 feet (1.2 m), but approximately two-thirds of this is the tail. Glass lizards feed mainly on insects. Some glass Lizards give birth to live young while others lay eggs.

Their common name comes from the fact that they are easily broken: like many lizards, they have the ability to deter predation by dropping off part of the tail which can break into several pieces, like glass. The tail remains mobile, while the lizard becomes motionless, distracting the predator, and allowing eventual escape. This serious loss of body mass requires a considerable effort to replace, and the new tail is usually smaller in size than the original.

The greatest number of species in the genus are native to Asia, from India to China and the Indonesian islands. At least one species, the Moroccan glass lizard, comes from North Africa, and several species live in the south-eastern United States including the barrier islands off the Atlantic coast of Florida. Found in abundant numbers in Eastern North Carolina as far as 40 miles from Atlantic Ocean.

Classification

Genus Ophisaurus

• Ophisaurus apodus Scheltopusik
• Ophisaurus attenuatus Slender glass lizard
• Ophisaurus buettikoferi Borneo glass lizard
• Ophisaurus ceroni Ceron's glass lizard
• Ophisaurus compressus Island glass lizard
• Ophisaurus formosensis Formosan glass lizard
• Ophisaurus gracilis Burmese glass lizard
• Ophisaurus hainanensis
• Ophisaurus harti Chinese glass lizard or Mud Dragon
• Ophisaurus incomptus
• Ophisaurus koellikeri Moroccan glass lizard
• Ophisaurus mimicus Mimic glass lizard
• Ophisaurus sokolovi
• Ophisaurus ventralis Eastern glass lizard
• Ophisaurus wegneri Sumatra glass lizard
• Ophisaurus sagget Sagget lizard

See also

• Pygopodidae
• Slowworm
• Limbless vertebrates

References

Wikispecies has information related to: Ophisaurus

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ophisaurus

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