He has no legs, so he looks very much like a snake.

However, it is easy to distinguish yellow-pet: his eyelids are mobile and allow him to open and close his eyes. Snakes have no such possibility: their eyelids are always coalesced and form a transparent “window”. In addition, the lizard has a very long tail, about 1.5 times as long as the body.

The only reminder that the ancestors of the yellow-fingered once had legs were small nipples on the sides of the cloacal fissure. These are the rudiments of the hind limbs, which probably do not play any role in the life of the lizard.

Subcutaneous armor

Zheltopuzik-the only representative of the genus armored spindles. Like other spindly lizards, his body is covered with large skull-like scales, and the ventral shields differ little from the dorsal in shape and size. Under this horny cover, osteoderms (skin ossifications) lie, thanks to which the body of the yellowfetch is firm and elastic to the touch. They form an almost continuous openwork and restrictedly mobile bone shell, resembling mail. Hence the name of the genus - armored spindles. There is a gap between the ventral and dorsal parts of this cover, because of which longitudinal skin folds hang from the base of the head at the base of the head to the cloacal slit. They allow the lizard to move very quickly, and in addition, to increase the volume of the body when large prey is swallowed, and to females when carrying eggs. The short, more or less deeply carved on the front end of the tongue of the yellow fossa consists of two differently sized segments, and the thin front part of the lizard can pull into a special vagina inside the thicker back.

SOUTH MOLLYUS LOVER

Yellowfish is found from the Balkan Peninsula, Minor and Western Asia in the west, to Iraq and in the east. It lives on the southern coast of the Crimea, in the Caucasus, in Central Asia and in the South. It inhabits various biotopes: from floodplain thickets and foothill light forests to steppes, semi-deserts and stony slopes. Often lives near water bodies, in case of danger it can go into the water, swims well. Do not avoid the proximity of man, mastering the gardens and vineyards. The lizard is active in the daytime, it spends dark hours and the hottest day hours in shelters: rodent holes, hollows under stones, dense thickets of shrubs.

Yellowfish is omnivorous. Strong jaws and powerful, blunted teeth make it easy to cope with large insects and land gastropods, often forming the basis of its diet. Even large grape snails with a solid shell are defenseless in front of it. Mouse-like rodents, eggs of birds and nestlings, small lizards and snakes can become prey of the yellow-frill. Sometimes he uses and vegetable food, such as the apricot's carrion and grapes.

In turn, these lizards, despite the large size and bone "chain mail", often become prey to birds of prey and mammals. Yellowtopuzik with a tail damaged or torn off by someone is a rather ordinary sight. In some populations, the proportion of such individuals can reach up to 50%. Interestingly, the tail of the armored spindles is not fragile: to tear off or bite off it, you need to make great efforts. Again, he no longer grows, remains stupid, as if chopped off. Loose-tailed lizards can no longer move so rapidly along the ground and crawl onto the lower branches of trees and shrubs like their healthy counterparts.

CARING MOTHER

Males of this reptile are found in nature approximately 2-4 times more often than females, who spend more time in shelters. Shortly after wintering, which lasts from October-November to March-April, the breeding season begins for yellow-sows. The male actively searches for the female and during the mating jaws holds her head. In June-July, a lizard in a burrow or other shelter lays eggs. In one laying of them from 6 to 12, they weigh about 20 g and are covered with a dense leathery skin.

Cubs 10-12.5 cm long hatch in August-September. They are painted differently than adults: on a yellowish-gray background there is a pattern of dark transverse zigzag stripes that goes over the head and tail. Such coloring remains at lizards up to 20 cm long and from a molt to a molt gradually is replaced on the adult.

It is extremely difficult to see cubs even in those places where the number of the species is quite large and in a day you can meet 5-10 adults. This is probably due to their secretive lifestyle. In addition, females do not participate in breeding annually, which means that the number of calves is not so large. Puberty in yellowfetch occurs at the age of 3-4 years with a body length of more than 30 cm.

RADIUS AND MAN

Due to the resemblance to the snake of this large, but completely harmless lizard, a meeting with a person sometimes ends in death for her. Caught yellowtopuzik tries to slip out of the hands, wriggling with the whole body or quickly rotating in one direction. At the same time, a characteristic creak of bone shell plates rubbing against each other is heard. Despite its powerful jaws, the yellowtopuzik almost never bites. His only defense is the sprinkling of unpleasant-smelling liquid feces, forcing him to throw a "dirty" lizard.

There are cases of illegal catching and selling of yellowtopusikov for keeping in terrariums by unscrupulous zootvortschiki. Many lizards die on the roads under the wheels of cars, as well as in various wells, trenches and similar structures, where they fall and can no longer get out. The species is listed in the Red Books of Kazakhstan and; in Russia - in the Red Books of the Krasnodar Territory, Ingushetia, North Ossetia and Kalmykia.

The female yellowtopus protects the eggs laid by her in the dark, wet shelter, wrapping them around with her body. Such a care for offspring for lizards is extremely atypical.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF

Type: Reptiles
  Detachment: lizards.
  Family: spindle lizards.
  Rod: armored spindles.
  Look: yellowtopuzik.
  Latin name: Pseudopus apodus.
  Size: body length with a tail - up to 125 cm.
  Weight: up to 500 g. The cross-striped snake was described in 1838 by FF Brandt, the founder of the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a Russian academician ...

Probably everyone who happened to be in the mountains of the Crimea or the Caucasus saw there small lizards crawling nimbly over sheer stone cliffs. They are called so ...

This is one of the smallest and rarest lizards in the fauna of Europe and Russia. For the first time, in 1814, P. Pallas described it, finding Big Bogda on the mountain ....

This cute and almost smiling on the photo creation is often mistaken for a snake and therefore afraid. And this is not a snake, but only fragile swindler ( Anguis fragilis), or a brawler, is a legless lizard, almost universally found in Europe and in the west of Asia, with the exception of the coldest and harshest regions.

For the uninformed and not very interested in human biology, the similarity of the curl with a “typical” snake is quite obvious: the absence of limbs, scales, size, lifestyle. In philosophy, there is even such a concept as naive consciousness, or naive realism - when a person judges reality based on his personal ideas, life experience, or how people think in society about the object of his thoughts; in other words, these are judgments at the household level. Spindle - a great example of such naive realism in biology.

There are a lot of myths about the alleged venom of the swindler. For example, in the Bryansk region, the locals call the coop "ten-minute" (because they believe that its bite kills within ten minutes) and ruthlessly exterminate it. I remember a wonderful dialogue between Kaa and Bagheera from the Mowgli cartoon:

“So they called me yellow fish?”
- Yes, yes, fish! And another worm! Earthworm!

In fact, the spindle is absolutely harmless. The differences between the snake-like lizard and the real snake are significant enough; they concern anatomy, behavior, physiology, morphology, and many other aspects. Swindles, like many lizards, are capable of throwing off the tail. All the scales on the body of the curl are similar in shape and size, whereas the snakes may differ significantly even adjacent scales on the head. And even more so there is no question of any poison (as well as a special morphological structure that ensures its action), which could bring the medyana in close proximity to poisonous snakes. By the way, it is also quite simple to distinguish a poisonous snake from a non-venomous one.

The differences in the device of the eyelids of the spindles and snakes are also quite significant: the eyelids of the crayfish are mobile, in other words, the lizards can blink, while the eyelids of the snakes grow together, forming a single coating on the surface of the eye

In addition, if you at least once saw in nature a spindle and some snake, then next time you will be able to distinguish them at least by the manner of movement. Medianits, unlike snakes, does not have large scales on the underside of the body, and in order to move forward, it needs to write out eights by the body, so the amplitude of movements is quite large. The snake is crawling in a straight line "straight line", moving only a number of scales.

Another of the obvious external differences can be called the shape of the body. Unlike poisonous snakes, the spindle does not have an obvious transition between the head and the body: they are like rolled up from one piece of clay. If you look from above on a poisonous snake, then in most cases you will be able to find a “neck”; in highly poisonous snakes, such as vipers, the shape of the head is generally triangular, and the transition between it and the body is very obvious.

An additional confusion and panic is introduced by the second name of the spindle - the hedgehog. It is consonant with the name of the common loach ( Coronella austriaca), which wears a non-poisonous snake, a close relative of the well-known common snake. Because of similar names, people often become afraid of both (coppers and sucker), not remembering who is who. In spite of the fact that both of them are not dangerous for a person, the copperhead is at least able to portray what is being defended: it will sizzle, curl up. The maximum that spindle will do is to try to escape. True, from personal experience I can say that if you want to catch it, it is not difficult, since these creatures are not too agile. I even had a chance to see how a swollen and swollen spindler “runs away” from a dog that is interested in her, trying to get out of a shallow groove. But to no avail: she continued to slide down. Of course, I do not urge to catch the poor lizards, but these creatures are absolutely harmless and will not even try to bite you, so if you need, for example, to catch this one in a tent - dare.

And if you happen to be in the Crimea or in the Caucasus, then there you can meet another kind of legless lizard from the family of the squirrels - yellow-squirrel - which, although it looks more formidable, is no less harmless than the spindly.

Photo © Alexandra Nechaeva, Tula region, Polenovo Museum, 2014–2015

Alexandra Nechaeva

The hero of this story about the Crimean fauna will be the yellow-lizard lizard. Heard about this? Zheltopuzik - is a legless lizard, which is a squad squamous. It belongs to the yellow-willower spindle family, the genus - armored spindles.

The nature of Crimea is unique and inimitable. On this relatively small piece of earth lives and grows so many diverse "children" of Mother Nature! Everything here is amazing: flora, fauna, unusual landscapes, mysterious stories and beliefs of local residents, attracting tourists from all over the world. Animals of the Crimea deserve special mention.

What does a yellow-lizard look like?

These reptiles have rather large sizes. The body length of an adult yellowfish can reach 1.5 meters! Most of the body takes the tail. The animal has no neck at all, the head completely merges with the body. The muzzle has a tapered shape. Zheltopuzik - not too flexible animal, because his whole body is covered with large scales, which have a ribbed structure.

When yellowtopuzik grows up, its skin is painted in brown and yellow shades, sometimes with specks, young individuals differ in a more variegated color. The belly of the yellow-haired tan is light.

Where else besides the Crimean peninsula does a yellow legless lizard live?

On the European territory, this reptile lives in the Balkan Peninsula. But in Small and Central Asia - this is a very common animal. In addition, the yellowfin lives in the Middle East. In our country, this lizard inhabits the Crimea, Dagestan, Kalmykia and Stavropol.

Lifestyles and behavior of the yellow-tit in nature

This representative of the scaled squad prefers open areas, so it can be found in the semi-desert, on the slopes of the mountains, in the steppes, in the territories of vineyards and light forest. He also likes yellowtopuzik to inhabit the fields. In the mountainous area is climbed to a height of 2300 meters above sea level.

Active life takes place during daylight hours. This animal is not very wet to the wet and hidden from the sun places, on the contrary - most often it crawls out into the sun and spends time soaking up on dry, open glades. But if the day is too hot, the yellow-wilderness can hide in a thicket of bushes or heaps of stones.

However, water is still required for yellowtopuziku, but for this it uses shallow water. Climbing into the water, he can sit in it for a long time, despite the fact that he almost does not know how to swim.

The lack of flexibility of the body does not prevent this amphibian from crawling with impressive speed. During the day, the yellow-willow can crawl in different directions on a territory whose radius is 200 meters.

What is included in the diet of the yellow Crimean lizards?

Zheltopuziki eat mainly mollusks. They are very fond of snails. And on the “dinner table” this legless lizard has insects (various beetles), mice, toads, lizards, snakes, small chicks and even bird eggs. Do not hesitate to yellowtopuzik and carrion.

In addition to animal food, the legless lizard includes some plants in its menu. She likes to feast on apricots, grapes and other fruit crops.

Breeding of yellow-lizard lizards

The female lays eggs. Usually, the clutch consists of 6 - 10 large eggs, which are covered with a white shell, having an elastic structure. The size of one yellowtopus egg is approximately 3 x 2 centimeters. Sometimes, a female legless lizard very carefully guards its future cubs. To do this, she wraps herself around the clutch and “incubates” the eggs. After 6 weeks, small yellow-bodied babies are born, they are very tiny - no more than 10 centimeters in length.

Who are the natural enemies of legless lizards?

Sometimes these animals become prey.

Quite often, the inhabitants and guests of the Crimea, the Caucasus or Central Asia are frightened by a creeping reptile, a yellowtopuzik, which is mistaken for a poisonous steppe viper. In Ukraine, his place of residence is only the Crimea.

The length of this representative of the spindle family reaches about one meter, and it looks menacing. However, the local inhabitants know that this animal is completely harmless, and the yellow-willow moves with difficulty, so that the most fearful will always have time to escape. But we also do not recommend trying to catch him, because he can still bite, so much so that his fingers are crushed. Help, like, is not required, but there will not be many pleasant sensations either.

Description of the yellowfin lizard

This spindle lizard can grow about 125 centimeters in length. The body is firm and elastic, serpentine in shape and somewhat flattened on the sides. There are lateral folded formations. From lizards, they have the property of "dumping" the tail.

Under natural conditions, the yellow-bellied snake has quite a colorful and memorable appearance, its skin is smooth and shiny. Unfortunately, in captivity, all this is lost, and the animal acquires a somewhat nondescript appearance. Therefore, it is necessary to soberly assess the feasibility of such an acquisition.

Yellowtopus content at home

There is a real opportunity to keep such or private house. For this, he needs to ensure complete solitude in a terrarium that has a flat horizontal shape. The bottom is covered with sand with the addition of gravel.

It is necessary to observe the temperature regime close to the natural living conditions of the legless yellow-lizard lizard, namely: at night from 18 to 22 ° C, and during the day the ambient temperature should fluctuate in the range from 22 to 30 ° C. It is not required to provide a certain humidity of the air, since the yellow-fox suit the microclimate of a city apartment or house.

Feeding and breeding of the Crimean zheltopuzika

In nature, this reptile eats various kinds of insects, and its diet is not much different from the usual lizard. Homes zheltopuzika need to be fed with earthworms, slugs, newborn mice, eggs of small birds, juicy fruits and vegetables. It is possible that the pet willingly feasts on small lizards or snakes.

Successful reproduction of fatfoot involves the mandatory long hibernation, which provokes a stable maintenance of low temperatures in the terrarium. Such a dream can last for several months. Approximately in June or July, the female yellow-squeak can lay up to one dozen eggs of medium size and somewhat oblong. The incubation period is within 30 or 45 days and should occur at an ambient temperature of at least 30 ° C.

Under conditions of captivity with yellowtopuzik, cardinal changes may occur regarding its appearance. For example, as young individuals mature, they change their striped yellow-gray color to a uniform brown or bronze color. This is one of the few types of lizards that does not show natural aggression towards the owner,   even with powerful jaws and decent body size.

The opinion that poisonous yellowfish is very erroneous. This copy is on the verge of extinction and is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine for the simple reason that it is often mistaken for a dangerous viper and mercilessly destroyed.

In fact, it is a large lizard with modified legs, which are represented by specific longitudinal folds on the sides of the body. It is precisely by this peculiarity, as well as by the absence of teeth and the presence of eyelids, that the yellow-squirrel can be distinguished from the rest, which represent a real threat, and that of reptiles.

The world of wildlife is so beautiful that, knowing the seemingly huge number of species, families, classes of animals, insects, fish, reptiles, birds and seeing their extraordinary uniqueness, we still can never know everything about them. Studying one, humanity misses the emergence of new specimens, exploring others - loses rare representatives out of life.

The variety of reptiles always shakes the imagination of the inhabitant. The number of lizards on the planet, according to scientists, exceeds 4000 known and more or less studied species. Of these, 3,500 are the most significant and widespread group, in which there are about 300 genera and 20 main families.

So, legless lizards are amazing representatives of the reptile family of the squad called scaly.

Structure

Lizards of this species have no holes responsible for hearing. The bone-forming plates located under the scaly surface of the skin are quite fragile and poorly developed. There are no limbs at all. The eyelids are very mobile, the eyes themselves are small. Jaws rigidly connected. Arc of the temporal region is not.

Lifestyle

The main place of existence in everyday life for them is sandy soil. Here, underground, lizards are looking for their own food, breaking through passages in the ground, breeding offspring. They practically do not go to the surface of the earth, preferring a “dark” and comfortable home.

Living in conditions of predominance of soil over vegetation, they do not suffer from lack of nutrition. Being inside the earth, or hiding under the stones, they quickly react to movement occurring on the surface. And thanks to the quick response to grab the intended "lunch" is not too difficult.

What do legless lizards eat

"Legless personages" are predators. Their diet is rich in various insect larvae, arachnids and invertebrates of other orders.

Progeny

Legless lizards bring about 4 small cubs for one egg-feeding. The ability to bear offspring occurs in their 2.5 - 3 years, at the age of full sexual readiness.

Evolutionary and biological development of the species

The most ancient species of lizards found in India was Indiana Tikiguania Estesi. Its age at the time of detection was almost 220,000,000 years. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the remains of the lizard can be attributed to the 3-4 period of development of the late type. The place where this kind was first found is considered to be a historical artifact formed by the natural combination of the late soil layers.

Legless lizards of the later periods of phylogenesis were not found. In historical development only large individuals could survive.

Species of legless lizards

Lizards, like snakes, belong to the well-known zoology scientific class - "reptiles". However, their pronounced external similarity does not at all indicate a natural identity. First of all, snakes, as a rule, have the ability to release poison. In lizards, it is often absent, with the exception of rare species of large representatives. The tremendous variety of reptiles poses difficult tasks for science. However, over time, experts still cope with them.

One existing genus includes two main types:
1. California Legless Lizard.
2. Jeronimic legless lizard.

Due to the indistinguishable sometimes similarity with dangerous snakes, these types of lizards suffer greatly. People, not understanding the nature of reptiles, kill them without much pity.

The Californian lizard has a body about 20-25 cm long. The color of the body is usually slightly brown or greenish-smoky. On the back and in the sides there are dark narrow lines.

In the forest belt of the European zone of the Russian Federation, including the legless common lizard (Copperpane), is often found. In the southern part of the country, the legless yellow-lizard (wood grouse) lizard is common. Two of the above reptiles are missing limbs. Movement on the surface of the earth occurs due to the ability of the body to wriggle. The torso and head are connected tightly, the interception in the neck is completely absent.

Legless lizard spindle eats insect larvae, earthworms and small mollusks. Due to its sharp teeth and rigid jaw construction, it reliably clings and holds the prey, while eating it slowly. Any mollusk spindle can always get out of the shelter, no matter how far he hides. The lizard crawls carefully into the shell, gradually eating prey from the inside, from beginning to end.

Zheltopuzik is one of the largest representatives of legless.

Another lizard that does not have legs belongs to a genus called "sepsophis". This species was discovered in the 70s of the 19th century in one of the states of India.

How to distinguish a lizard from a snake?

The lizards in the world, devoid of legs, cause people a lot of doubts, which are often interpreted incorrectly. In historical stories of religious origin, it is said that once all snakes had legs, but for their deeds on Earth they were doomed to eternal damnation, which caused them to crawl and cringe. According to this myth, it was then that the snakes lost their legs forever. The most interesting thing is that most evolutionary biologists agree to some degree with the opinion that reptile-snake legs really did exist. Only here the loss of limbs, in their opinion, is, above all, a fact caused by the evolutionary movement of the process. As a result, being without legs has become a great virtue that helps to exist successfully within nature for a long time. For example, in vipers there are no limbs at all, but in simple species of snakes in the pelvic region, small processes with small claws can be seen, which look like underdeveloped legs.

In addition to the above, I would like to define the criteria by which it will be easy to distinguish a lizard that does not have legs from a snake:

1. Age mobility. In the snake the eyelids are static, in the lizards they are dynamic.
2. Neck belt. In a lizard, the location of the constriction is almost impossible to determine, but in a snake, it can be seen with the naked eye.

Please note that, despite the ease of determining the genus, you should not take into the hands of reptiles of an unknown species. Own safety and excessive care often saves from going to the hospital.