Glass sneak
| Glass sneak | ||||||||||||
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Eastern glass sneak ( Ophisaurus ventralis ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ophisaurus | ||||||||||||
| Daudin , 1803 |
The glass creeps ( Ophisaurus ) are a genus of legless lizards. They come with five species in North America (USA and Mexico) and another type for which some scientists also the generic name Hyalosaurus use in Morocco and northwest Algeria before. The Southeast European and Middle Eastern Scheltopusik , which used to be counted among the glass sneaks, was placed in its own genus Pseudopus . The Southeast Asian species are now assigned to the genus Dopasia .
features
Glass snakes have a snake-like body, but are much less agile than these due to large scales and skin bones. The side fold, which also makes breathing easier in all members of the Diploglossidae family , is well pronounced. The head is barely detached from the body and is blunt. The largest species, the slender glass creep ( O. attenuatus ) and the eastern glass creep ( O. ventralis ), are one meter long, the others often only reach 50 cm. The tail makes up two thirds of the body length. They were given the German name because they drop their tails at predetermined breaking points in the event of danger and this easily breaks up into further pieces. Lost tails are regenerated, but no longer reach their original length.
Way of life
Glass sneaks live mainly in open areas overgrown with grass, in stony, bushy steppes or in damp forests. All glass sneaks feed on insects and soft-bodied invertebrates such as worms and snails. They reproduce oviparously and lay relatively small eggs. The female guards the clutch until the young hatch.
species
The Reptile Database lists six species:
- Slender glass sneak ( Ophisaurus attenuatus Baird, 1880)
- Ophisaurus ceroni Holman, 1965
- Coastal glass creep ( Ophisaurus compressus Cope, 1900)
- Ophisaurus incomptus McCconkey, 1955
- Ophisaurus mimicus Palmer, 1987
- Eastern glass sneak ( Ophisaurus ventralis (Linnaeus, 1766))
literature
- Chris Mattison: Lizards of the World. Facts On File, New York NY et al. 1989, ISBN 0-8160-1900-2 .
- Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt: Lizards. Windows to the Evolution of Diversity (= Organisms and Environments. Vol. 5). University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2003, ISBN 0-520-23401-4 .
- Manfred Rogner : Lizards. Volume 2: Monitor lizards, skinks and other lizards as well as bridge lizards and crocodiles. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8001-7253-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Truong Quang Nguyen, Wolfgang Böhme , Tao Thien Nguyen, Quyet Khac Le, Kristian Robert Pahl, Tanja Haus & Thomas Ziegler: Review of the genus Dopasia Gray, 1853 (Squamata: Anguidae) in the Indochina subregion Zootaxa , 2894: 58-68 (2011), ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition), ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition)
- ^ Ophisaurus in The Reptile Database
