Slow Worm

About the Slow Worm

The common slow worm (Anguis fragilis) is a non-venomous species of legless lizard native to Europe. It is also called a deaf adder, blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple, steelworm, and hazelworm. Despite its name, the common slow worm is neither a worm nor a snake.

Common slow worms are semifossorial (burrowing) lizards that spend much of their time hiding underneath objects. The skin of slow worms is smooth, with scales that do not overlap. The "blind" in blindworm refers to the lizard's small eyes, similar to a blindsnake (although the slow worm's eyes are functional). The common slow worm, i.e. the species Anguis fragilis, is often called simply "slow worm", though all species of the species complex comprising the genus Anguis are also called "slow worms".

The name "slow worm" is only contaminated by the word "slow". In Middle English, it was written "slowurm", from Old English "slāwyrm", where slā- means 'earthworm' or 'slow worm' and wyrm means "serpent, reptile". It is related to the Norwegian slo or Swedish ormslå, of same meaning.

Anguis fragilis was historically divided into two subspecies (A. f. fragilis and A. f. colchica). However, recent... Wikipedia →