#squamates

Digging is always easier with a shovel; it's good thing the shovel-snouted lizard is never without one! These lizards reside solely in the Namib Desert, and use their uniquely-shaped noses to help bury themselves in the sand, thus avoiding the worst of the heat during the day.

South Indian Rock Agama (Psammophilus dorsalis), male, family Agamidae, order Squamata, Telangana, India

Also known as the Peninsular Rock Agama or Rock Dragon

Italian Three-Toed Skink (Chalcides chalcides)

Family: Skink Family (Scincidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Like several other species of lizard, the Italian Three-Toed Skink has adapted to move through areas covered with dense vegetation by developing an elongated, flexible, snake-like body with highly regressed limbs, although unlike many other "snake-like lizards" members of this species still possess four tiny limbs, each ending in a stumpy three-toed foot. Said limbs are far too small to support the skink's weight and serve no role in movement (which is achieved through an elegant snake-like slithering motion,) which has led many to question what purpose, if any, they serve; it is generally assumed that the limbs are vestigial and that, given sufficient time, the descendants of modern Italian Three-Toed Skinks will lose them entirely, although some herpetologists and evolutionary biologists have suggested that the continued existence of this species' limbs suggests that they must serve some function, such as being moved as part of a courtship display or allowing mating individuals to hold onto one another (although as these behaviours have never been observed these suggestions are entirely speculative.) Found in damp, well-vegetated areas across most of mainland Italy as well as Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and the nearby island of Sardinia, members of this species are diurnal, feed mainly on insects and breed during the spring; like most skinks, females of this species give birth to live young, with newborns, which resemble miniature adults, being independent immediately after birth.

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Episode 27 of the SquaMates Podcast is out now! You can tune into the Premiere over on YouTube now! This one is all about Rain Frogs, family Brevicipitidae! You can also get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most other podcast streaming services!

Megapterygius