Pygopodidae

<p>Pygopodidae, commonly known as snake-lizards, or flap-footed lizards, are a <a href="/facts/Family_(biology)/qTrn6E8E">family</a> of <a href="/facts/Legless_lizard/a4gT4A7v">legless lizards</a> with reduced or absent limbs, and are a type of <a href="/facts/Gecko/13Hu5c1w">gecko</a>. The 47 <a href="/facts/Species/oDg6b96r">species</a> are placed in two <a href="/facts/Subfamilies/2QPtfDS4">subfamilies</a> and eight <a href="/facts/Genus/m8EFjSms">genera</a>. They have unusually long, slender bodies, giving them a strong resemblance to <a href="/facts/Snake/YhA2gcn0">snakes</a>. Like snakes and most geckos, they have no eyelids, but unlike snakes, they have external ear holes and flat, unforked tongues. They are native to <a href="/facts/Australia/qLHpbppq">Australia</a> and <a href="/facts/New_Guinea/qB0bzfSH">New Guinea</a>.
</p><p>Pygopodids have no fore limbs at all, but they do possess <a href="/facts/Vestigial/sYfUsCQX">vestigial</a> hind limbs in the form of small, flattened flaps. These may have some role in courtship and <a href="/facts/Defensive_behaviour/j43rHaT5">defensive behaviour</a>, and may even aid in locomotion through vegetation. Some species are <a href="/facts/Insectivore/ukA7UnLr">insectivorous</a> burrowing animals, but others are adapted to moving through dense <a href="/facts/Triodia_(grass)/4vTpNkzd">spinifex</a> or other vegetation.
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Pygopodidae open-in-new

Pygopodidae