Pygopodidae
Sign in to savePygopodidae, commonly known as snake-lizards, or flap-footed lizards, are a family of legless lizards with reduced or absent limbs, and are a type of gecko. The 47 species are placed in two subfamilies and eight genera. They have unusually long, slender bodies, giving them a strong resemblance to snakes. Like snakes and most geckos, they have no eyelids, but unlike snakes, they have external ear holes and flat, unforked tongues. They are native to Australia and New Guinea.
Article
8 sectionsContents
- Shared gecko characteristics
- Differences from snakes
- Hearing
- Taxonomy
- Classification
- See also
- References
- Further reading
Pygopodidae, commonly known as snake-lizards, or flap-footed lizards, are a family of legless lizards with reduced or absent limbs, and are a type of gecko. The 47 species are placed in two subfamilies and eight genera. They have unusually long, slender bodies, giving them a strong resemblance to snakes. Like snakes and most geckos, they have no eyelids, but unlike snakes, they have external ear holes and flat, unforked tongues. They are native to Australia and New Guinea.
Pygopodids have no fore limbs at all, but they do possess vestigial hind limbs in the form of small, flattened flaps. These may have some role in courtship and defensive behaviour, and may even aid in locomotion through vegetation. Some species are insectivorous burrowing animals, but others are adapted to moving through dense spinifex or other vegetation.