The LA Times reported on the discovery of four new species of legless lizards in California, including one that lives beneath the sand dunes near LAX. The four new species give California a total of five legless lizards. All are part of the group Anniella
The article also clarifies something I learned on a natural history trip a few years ago. That is snakes are legless lizards, but not all legless lizards are snakes.
How Legless Lizards differ from snakes?
- Legless lizards have eyelids, snakes don’t
- Snakes shed their skin in one piece, legless lizards don’t
- Snakes coil much more often and are more slithery when they move, legless lizards are more rigid
Read more at: Legless lizard discovered near LAX (and no, it’s not a snake) – latimes.com.
Natural History Wanderings 
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