Order Squamata
Suborder Anguinomorpha

Family Anniellidae (American Legless lizards)

Content: only 2 species in the genus Anniella.

Anniella pulchra © Laurie J. Vitt

Appearance: slender-bodied, limbless lizards. Anniella species have a striking similarity to anguids of the genus Anguis in Europe (see family Anguidae).

Distribution: USA (California) and Mexico (Baja California)

Habitat: arid habitats, fossorial.

Size: maximum 30 cm total length

Food: carnivorous.

Behaviour: Anniellids burrow during the day and forage on the surface at night.

Reproduction: live-bearing.

• Anniella

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References:

Bell, Christopher J.;Mead, Jim I.;Fay, Leslie P. (1995)
Neogene history of Anniella Gray, 1852 (Squamata, Anniellidae) with comments on postcranial osteology.
Copeia 1995 (3): 719-726

Macey,J.R. et al. (1999)
Molecular phylogenetics, tRNA evolution, and historical biogeography in Anguid lizards and related txanomic families.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12 (3): 250-272

Scherpner,Ch. in:
Klemmer,K., Wermuth,H. & Hediger,H., eds. (1979-1993)
Grzimeks Tierleben, Bd. 6: Kriechtiere
Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag
p. 319-320

Sprackland, Robert G. (1995)
California's legless lizards (Genus Anniella).
San Diego Herpetological Society Newsletter 17 (5): 1-3

Wermuth, Heinz (1969)
Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien: Anguidae, Anniellidae, Xenosauridae.
Das Tierreich 90 : 1-41

Zug,G.R.; Vitt, L.J. & Caldwell, J.P. (2001)
Herpetology, 2nd ed.
Academic Press San Diego, London, [...]XIV + 630 pp.

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