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New Limbless Lizard Species Found

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070528-snake-lizard.html

May 28, 2007—It may look like a snake and live like a snake. But a
tiny reptile found recently in India is something else entirely, an
Indian zoologist announced today.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/images/070528-snake-lizard_big.jpg

The 7-inch (18-centimeter) creature is not a serpent at all, but
actually a completely new species of limbless lizard, said Sushil
Kumar Dutta of North Orissa University.

"The lizard is new to science and is an important discovery. It is not
found anywhere else in the world," Dutta told the Associated Press.

"It prefers to live in a cool retreat, soft soil, and below stones,"
he added.

Though limbless lizards are rare, a number of such species have been
found throughout the world, including elsewhere in India. Creatures
known as glass snakes or glass reptiles, for example, superficially
resemble serpents and are known to live in Asia, Africa, and the
Americas.

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.

Dutta and a team of researchers found the latest legless reptile near
the Raurkela region of India's east coast state of Orissa, about 625
miles (1,000 kilometers) southeast of New Delhi.

The find appears to belong to the genus Sepsophis, Dutta said. Its
closest relatives live in Sri Lanka and South Africa, he added.

Skeptics, however, are waiting for a full scientific description to
confirm that the discovery is actually a lizard—and not, as first
appearances would suggest, a plain old snake.

—Aalok Mehta

--
Bob.