Leslee Joy C.

LegurpaBio 104

Blind, Legless Lizard DiscoveredNew Species On May 12th, 2011, in the mountains of Cambodia, they found a new species of lizard. This new species is a blind, legless lizard that has been found in the mountains of Cambodia, conservationists announced. The 6-inch-long (15-centimeter-long) reptile, called Dibamusdalaiensis, is the first of its kind discovered in the Southeast Asian country. The animal joins more than 200 legless lizard species and about 50 other new reptiles discovered worldwide in the past decade. Herpetologist Neang Thy of Fauna & Flora International recently found the new species under a log in the Cardamom Mountains (map), in the southwestern part of the country.Though the Dalai Mountain blind lizard is truly unique, it took scientists about a year to verify with certainty that it is a new species. The Dalai Mountain blind lizard belongs to the family Dibamidae, a group of around twenty known legless lizard species that burrow in the ground and have little or no eyesight. The family is much less well known than another group of legless lizards belonging to the family Anguidae, which include the California legless lizard and the slow worm of Europe. Though sometimes mistaken for snakes, legless lizards are set apart from snakes by their non-forked tongues, the fact that they have two lungs instead of just one, and other distinguishing features. Legless lizards apparently lost their limbs during the course of evolution, as they adapted to a burrowing life where legs were unnecessary. The resemblance between legless lizards and snakes is an example of convergent evolution, in which two groups of animals that arent closely related evolve to resemble one another because they share a similar ecological niche.

References: By Dave Mosherfor National Geographic News http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/05/110512-new-species-found-blind-leglesslizard-cambodia-animals-science/ By Nick Engelfried on Sun, 05/15/2011 - 3:39pm http://greenanswers.com/news/238172/new-blind-legless-lizard-species-found-cambodia By Ben Bussey http://web.me.com/eimsbuzz/May11/moveover.html