San Diegan Legless Lizard

About the San Diegan Legless Lizard

Anniella stebbinsi, the Southern California or San Diegan legless lizard, is a small, slender lizard, and, as the name suggests, is legless. Not much is known about the lizard as a unique species, with most observations conducted while it was not recognised as separate from Anniella pulchra, the Californian legless lizard.

The specific name stebbinsi honors Robert C. Stebbins, an American herpetologist. The Southern California legless lizard is small and slender, with no legs, a shovel-shaped snout, smooth shiny scales, and a blunt tail. On close observation, eyelids are also present, making clear that the species are lizards and not snakes. Its dorsum is light olive-brown, with strong yellow sides, and its ventral colour is moderate yellow. It also has a black mid-dorsal stripe with the length of less than one scale wide that stretches from the parietals to the tip of the tail, and multiple black stripes that are one scale wide from the eye to the tip of the tail. The holotype is adult female measuring 132 mm (5.2 in) in snout–vent length with 81 mm (3.2 in) regenerated tail.

This species is found from Southern California to the... Wikipedia →