Since there are species of legless lizards, what parameters do scientists use to not classify them as snakes?

Question

I saw this video about a legless lizard that, if I had seen it in the wild, I probably would have thought it was a snake. How do scientists know how to tell the difference?

In: 279

Answer 1

In taxonomy (the branch of science that classifies living things into groups), single attributes rarely define a genus or species. In addition to being legless, snakes are defined by their lack of eyelids, big scales on their bellies, single lung, etc etc. Legless lizards have eyelids, small belly scales, two lungs, a non-forked tongue, etc etc. In addition, many legless snakes have small vestigial feet.