European Glass Lizard

Description:

It looks like a snake but it is a legless lizard. This means that it has eyelids and external ears unlike snakes. Overall length up to 140cm, but usually smaller. Diurnal lizard that avoids the high temperatures. It moves mainly in the ground but can also climb in dense bushes. It feeds mainly on invertebrates, but also small rodents or reptiles. Mating in spring and the females lay 6-12 eggs that hatch in late summer. The young are 10-12cm long. If scare quickly moves trying to escape by making a lot of noise. Usually confused with snake and killed. Completely harmless reptile.

Habitat:

Rocky meadow in Seih-Sou, the suburban forest of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Notes:

Greek common names: Τυφλίτης, Φιδόσαυρα, Τύφλιακας. Distribution: Greece (incl. Limnos, Rhodos, Lesbos, Corfu = Corfou, Chios, Samos), W Yugoslavia: coastal Croatia, Hercegowina, Monte Negro, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, European Soviet Union (Caucasus, Dagestan), S Russia, S Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan,Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, W Tajikistan, S Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel thracicus: northern coastal areas of the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Greece (Lesbos etc.)