Eastern glass lizard

Eastern glass lizard
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Anguidae
Genus: Ophisaurus
Species:
O. ventralis
Binomial name
Ophisaurus ventralis
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms
  • Anguis ventralis
    Linnaeus, 1766
  • Ophisaurus ventralis
    Daudin, 1803
  • Ophisaurus ventralis
    Cope, 1900

The eastern glass lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis) is a species of legless lizard in the family Anguidae and the longest and heaviest species of glass lizards in the genus Ophisaurus, endemic to the Southeastern United States. The streamlined, legless species is often confused with snakes. Glass lizards differ from snakes as they possess a moveable eyelid and an external ear opening as well as a lateral groove that separates the different types of scales on the animal, all three of these features are absent in snakes. Snakes also have flexible jaws while lizards do not. Ventralis comes from the Latin "venter" meaning belly; this is in reference to the snake-like movement.