Species Fact Profile: European Legless Lizard/Scheltopusik (Pseudopus apodus)

                                             European Legless Lizard (Scheltopusik)

Pseudopus apodus (Pallas, 1775)

Range: Southern Europe, Middle East, Central Asia

Habitat: Short Grasslands, Open Woodland, Dry Rocky Hillsides

Diet: Snails and Slugs, Insects and other Arthropods, Small Vertebrates, Eggs

Social Grouping: Primarily solitary, may congregate

Reproduction:  Breed between June and August.  10 weeks after mating, female will lay about 6-10 eggs, which she hides in a crevice or under a rock and guards during incubation.  The young hatch after 45-55 days, about 15 centimeters long each.  Female abandons young after they hatch.  Sexually mature at 2-3 years old.

Lifespan: Average 10-15 Years in Wild, Up to 50 Years

Conservation Status: IUCN  Least Concern

• Largest of the legless-lizards.  Reaches a maximum length of 135 centimeters.  The body is made up of ring-like segments which make the animal resemble a giant earthworm, but having a distinctive fold of skin down the length of the body.  The head is typically lizard-like, differing from that of a snake by having eyelids and ear openings.  A pair of tiny vestigial legs (about 0.2 centimeters long) are by the cloaca, about halfway down the length of the body
• Coloration is tan, usually paler towards the head.  Juveniles have more vivid marks then adults
• If threatened by a predator, it will hiss, bite, or screte musk.  If seized, it may drop off a section of its tail, which will break into pieces to distract a predator and earning the species its nickname of "glass lizard" (in European folklore, the lizard can reputedly break into pieces and then reassemble itself).  A dropped tail will be regrown, but slowly.
• Latin name translates to "Fake-Legged Without Legs."  The alternative common name, "Scheltopusik," comes from the Russian for "Yellow-Bellied"
• Two subspecies - the eastern, which has a narrower head, and the western (P. . thracius), which has a broader one
• Not endangered, relatively common over widespread range.  Tolerant of some habitat disturbance and may be found in gardens.  Sometimes killed after being misidentified as a snake
• Sometimes used in movies as a "stunt-double" for snakes - most notably in the "snake pit| in the Indiana Jones movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark.