Typically, lizards have four legs, but there are indeed some unique species without legs found on Earth. These lizards are primarily distributed in southern Asia, Southeast Asia, India, Australia, and the Americas.
The legless lizard of the Americas resembles an earthworm, measuring about 30 centimeters in length, and has very poor eyesight, earning it the name "worm lizard." They inhabit moist soil and prey on termites and black ants. When disturbed, they quickly burrow into the ground, using their blunt tails to block the entrance. Over time, this lizard has lost its limbs due to a burrowing lifestyle, and its head has specialized for digging, featuring a closed skull and a shovel-like snout.
In regions like Yunnan and Taiwan in China, as well as India, Myanmar, and Vietnam, there exists a species known as the worm lizard. These lizards can grow up to about 2 meters long, with brown backs, dark stripes on the sides, and green-edged bands, while their bellies are brown or yellow. Their heads resemble those of lizards, but their limbs are completely degenerated, although traces of limb girdles can still be seen.
Australia is home to 14 unique small lizards known as scaly-foot lizards. These lizards resemble snakes and have two pairs of large scales protruding from their sides, retaining vestigial hind legs. They are often found near mountain streams, and when faced with predators, they can shed their tails to distract attention, successfully escaping and later regenerating a new tail.
In the 1960s, the white-tailed bipedal lizard was first discovered in the Yao Mountains of Guangxi. This lizard is about 20 centimeters long, covered in overlapping round scales that shimmer with a brown metallic sheen in the sunlight. Its tail ends with a white tip, and on either side of the anus, there are grooves containing a pair of flat, scaled hind limbs.
Finally, the two-legged worm lizard from the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico is particularly unique. Its head appears very small compared to its elongated body, lacking ear flaps and having only two eyes sunk into the skin. Close to the head, it has two pairs of feet with mole-like five toes at the tips, used for digging through hard soil. If the soil is softer, it will use its head to sway back and forth in a nearly rotating motion to push through.
