Glass Lizard Research Paper

What has scales, no legs, and flicks out its tongue? If you immediately responded snake you are only partially correct. There is actually another right answer that includes moveable eyelids that blink, inflexible jaw, and visible ear holes, which snakes do not have. If you guessed glass lizard you win the golden buzzer!
Glass Lizards also lack a broad, single row of belly scales, which are found on nearly all snakes. A final physical trait you can observe that distinguishes them from snakes is the body length. Snakes have long bodes with short tails, whereas glass lizards have short bodies with long tails. In fact, growing between 18 to 43 inches, the long tail of a glass lizard makes up almost two-thirds of its entire body length, whereas, the body proportion of a snake is the exact opposite.
Found on every continent, except Antarctica, there are fifteen known species of nonvenomous glass lizards, belonging to the scientific genus Ophisaurus, from the Greek word meaning "snake-lizard." Four species can be found in Georgia, including the Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis), Slender Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus attenuatus), the very rare Mimic Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus mimicus), and Island Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus compressus).
Its common name, glass lizard, comes from the animal's ability …show more content…
When young, glass lizards are yellow-greenish or khaki-colored and usually sport a broad, dark stripe lengthwise down each side its body. Older male lizards may be heavily speckled. The Eastern glass lizard does not have a dorsal stripe as others of its genus do, but it has several vertical whitish bars just behind the head. Additionally, if you pick one up, you will notice that a glass lizard often feels different than a snake. This is because the skin is protected by a layer of bony platelets called osteoderms, giving the lizard an armored

Show More

Related Documents: Glass Lizard Research Paper

African Fat Tailed Geckos Research Paper