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antipodi
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Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:48 pm
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 Australiasian Legless Lizards
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Australiasian Legless lizards (Family Pygopodidae)
Legless lizards are quite closely  related to geckos, sharing many characteristics.
There are 35 species, 33 found only in Australia and two also in New Guinea.
These are sometimes called flap-footed lizards because, while they lack forelimbs entirely, they still have a scaly flap where the hind legs once were. Their loss would probably have enabled these lizards to fit better into small spaces in vegetation and rock crevices and to burrow in soil.
They are also called snake-lizards because of their obvious resemblance. However, they have broad, flat tongues, not forked ones, and move with more regular curving movements. They stay out of sight most of the time, basking in upper layers of leaf litter and soil and moving in the open only at night if possible.
Burton’s snake-lizard (Lialis burtonis )
This lizard is the most widely distributed of the legless lizards, living in most habitats except for rainforest. It can grow to 62cm in total length. It has a long, pointed head, quite unlike any snake’s, and is very variable in colour, even within populations in small areas. Although most legless lizards eat insects, this species feeds almost exclusively on other lizards, ambushing them when they come close. It can swallow a lizard with a girth greater than its own. It is active by day and night, but prefers to keep out of sight by day and tends to be nocturnal in hotter regions.
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