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Western Slender Glass Lizard, Ophisaurus attenuatus attenuatus (Cope, 1880). Photographed in Douglas Co., Kansas. Adult total length can be 1067 mm, with a body length of 289 mm, the the tail is about twice the body length. These lizards readily break their tails into several pieces to escape predation, thus the name, glass lizards. Grasslands and open woodlands are typical habitats. Southern Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, as far west as central Kansas. |
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The Madrean Alligator Lizard, Elgaria kingi Gray, 1838. Photographed in Cochise Co., Arizona. Adult body size reaches 132 mm. The Madrean Alligator Lizard is a montane species that uses chaparral, oak woodland and fir forests. They seem to like areas that are rocky and near permanent water. But, they will use other microhabitats. This lizard can be found active early in the morning and at dusk. Females lay 9-15 eggs. Their diet is insectivorous. |
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Tropical Montane Alligator Lizard, Mesaspis monticola (Cope, 1877). Photographed in central Costa Rica, top photo is a male, bottom photo is a female. Known from Costa Rica and Panama at elevations above 1500 m. Adults reach a total length of 236 mm. These animals were on the ground and took refuge under rocks, in a high pasture. They also occur in Subalpine Parmao and montane rainforest. Food is mostly insects but they will also eat small salamanders and lizards. Females give birth to 2-10 live young, and appear to attend to them after they are born. This species has also evolved a placenta for nourishing the embryos during development. |
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Anguids number about 100 species in 13 genera. They inhabit both Hemispheres, the current distribution and fossil record suggests a Laurasian origin, possibly in the Cretaceous. They have mostly terrestrial and semifossorial life styles, (but Abronia are arboreal) in habitats that range from rainforests and cloud forests to grasslands and sand dunes. Osteoderms, small bones, underlay the scales in these lizards. They tend to have elongated bodies and many show trends toward reduced or absent limbs. Size ranges from 55 mm to 1400 mm. Exceptionally fragile tails are commonly found in many of these lizards, and the reason why one group has been given the name glass lizards. Most lay eggs but a few are viviparous. All are carnivorous. Thomas Barbour discussed anguids in the genus Ophisaurus, in his 1928 book Reptiles & Amphibians, he wrote:
Anguidae form a clade with the Anniellidae and Diploglossidae, the three lineages last sharing an ancestor 68 Ma (76-61 Ma). |