Eastern Glass Lizard
Ophisaurus ventralis
- Class
- Reptile
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 3,272
- Most observed in
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The eastern glass lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis) is a species of legless lizard in the family Anguidae and the longest and heaviest species of glass lizards in the genus Ophisaurus, endemic to the Southeastern United States. The streamlined, legless species is often confused with snakes. Glass lizards differ from snakes as they possess a moveable eyelid and an external ear opening as well as a lateral groove that separates the different types of scales on the animal, while all three of these features are absent in snakes. Snakes also have flexible jaws while lizards do not. Ventralis comes from the Latin "venter" meaning belly; this is in reference to the snake-like movement.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Eastern glass lizard”.