rhamphotheca:

Close up of the face of a Eurasian Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis), a common legless lizard

(photo: Valerius Geng)

rhamphotheca:

New Bling, Legless Lizard Discovered in Cambodia

by Dave Mosher

A new species of blind, legless lizard has been found in the mountains of Cambodia, conservationists announced. The 6-inch-long (15-centimeter-long) reptile, called Dibamus dalaiensis, 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.

“At first I thought it was a common species,” Thy said in a press release. “But looking closer, I realized it was something I didn’t recognize.”…

(read more: National Geo)  

(photo: Thy Neang et al, Zootaxa/Flora & Fauna International)