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

Snakes are understood to be all descended from a common snake ancestor, so should have multiple features in common

from the [legless lizard Wikipedia page](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legless_lizard)
>These lizards are often distinguishable from [snakes](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes) on the basis of one or more of the following characteristics: possessing eyelids, possessing external ear openings, lack of broad belly scales, notched rather than forked tongue, having two more-or-less-equal [lungs](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung), and/or having a very long tail (while snakes have a long body and short tail).