Glass lizard

A glass lizard, or glass snake, is one of several lizard species belonging to the family Anguidae, so called because its tail easily breaks or snaps off. Glass lizards are native to North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. They originated in Europe and spread toward Asia after the drying of the Turgai Sea and then across Beringia to the North America region.[1]

An eastern glass lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis).

Not all lizards known as glass lizard belong to the same genus. The term "glass lizard" may refer to any of the following genera:

  • Dopasia (7 species), native to eastern Asia
  • Hyalosaurus (1 species), native to North Africa
  • Ophisaurus (6 species), native to eastern North America
  • Pseudopus (1 extant species), native to Europe and Asia


References
  1. Lavin, & Girman, D. J. (2019). Phylogenetic relationships and divergence dating in the Glass Lizards (Anguinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution., 133, 128–140.
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