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 are vestigial organs meaning they have evolved and they are no longer in use. 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 on insects, spiders, other small reptiles, and young rodents. Their diet is limited by their inability to unhinge their jaws. Some glass lizards give birth to live young but most 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, distracting the predator, while the lizard becomes motionless, allowing eventual escape. This serious loss of body mass requires a considerable effort to replace and can take up to years to do so. Despite this ability, 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. They are also found in abundant numbers in Eastern North Carolina as far as 40 miles from Atlantic Ocean.

It was previously stated that a vast difference between the glass lizard and a snake is that the glass lizard does not have the ability to "unhinge its jaw" to consume prey. While this may be true, the same can be said for ALL snakes. Snakes do not have the ability to unhinge their jaws to consume larger prey whole. It is a common misconception that a snake can unhinge its jaw. Their ability to consume large prey whole comes from bones connected by flexible cartilage in their skulls. Which allows the skull to slightly expand temporarily, making it possible to consume prey larger than their mouth opening.

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 sokoloviPink lizard
• 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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