Order Squamata
Infraorder Gekkota

Family Pygopodidae (Australasian Legless Lizards)

Delma australis © Peter Robertson (Museum Victoria)

Appearance: The pygopods are functionally limbless; the forelimbs and pectoral girdle are absent, and the hindlimbs remain only as scaly flaps with a vestigial hindlimb and pelvic skeleton. All are slender, elongate species. Like some skink-eating snakes, Lialis has hinged teeth that are an adaptation for holding the smooth-scaled, hard-bodied skinks.

Distribution: Australia, Lialis also in Indonesia.

Habitat: Mainly grass and litter dwelling. Two genera, Aprasia and Ophidiocephalus, fossorial.

Size: 7-25 cm snout-vent length. Lialis is specializing on skinks.

Food: arthropods and lizards

Behaviour: Mostly diurnal, but some species of Delma and Lialis often move around after dark. Paradelma and members of the Pygopus nigriceps species-group are strictly nocturnal.

Reproduction: Oviparous. Clutch size 2.

Relationships and taxonomic notes: The Pygopodids have been found to be nested within the Gekkonidae both by "classical" cladistic analyis as well as by molecular studies (e.g. Saint et al. 1998). Because of their distinct appearance we maintain them as separate family for the time being.

Subfamily Pygopodinae

• Paradelma
• Pygopus
• Delma (including the subgenus Aclys)

Subfamily Lialisinae

Tribus Lialisini

• Lialis

Tribus Aprasiaini

Subtribus Pletholaxini

• Pletholax

Subtribus Aprasiaini

• Ophidiocephalus
• Aprasia

But note slightly different classification by JENNINGS et al. 2003 below.

Click on genus to get a list of species. Use the Search form for more sophisticated searches (HELP on Search).

Phylogeny of pygopodids (modified after JENNINGS et al. 2003); Click for full tree.

Note that JENNINGS et al. 2003 included Paradelma in Pygopus and synonymized Aclys with Delma.

References:

DONNELLAN, S. C., HUTCHINSON, M. N. & SAINT, K. M. (1999)
Molecular evidence for the phylogeny of Australian gekkonoid lizards.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 67: 97-118.

Jennings, W.B.; Pianka, E.R. & Donnellan, S. 2003
Systematics of the lizard family Pygopodidae with implications for the diversification of Australian temperate biotas.
Syst. Biol. 52: 757-780

Kluge,A.G. (1974)
A Taxonomic Revision of the Lizard Family Pygopodidae
Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan (147): VI + 221 pp.

Kluge,A.G. (1976)
Phylogenetic Relationships in the Lizard Family Pygopodidae: An Evaluation of Theory, Methods and Data
Misc. Publ. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan (152): 72 pp.

Saint,K.M.; Austin,C.C.; Donnellan,S.C. & Hutchinson,M.N. 1998
C-mos, a nuclear marker useful for squamate phylogenetic analysis.
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 10 (2): 259-263

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

Online Information:

Brian Bush: Legless lizards

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