Lizard wriggles into the record books

Lizard that looks like a snake

Cambridge News, UK

A snake expert working for a Cambridge charity in Cambodia has discovered a creature unknown to science – a blind, legless lizard.

Neang Thy was doing research for Cambridge-based Fauna & Flora International (FFI) in the Cardamom Mountains when he spotted a worm-like creature in undergrowth, trying to hide from the light.

He thought it was a flowerpot snake, which is common to the area. But on closer inspection, it proved to be a species of lizard never catalogued before.

He said: “It was unable to see, and had no legs, and at first I thought it was a common species of snake. Looking closer, I realised it was something I didn’t recognise.”

Similar legless reptiles have been found in other parts of South-East Asia, but none like the one in Cambodia. It is blind because it spends most of its time underground. Males have small, flap-like hind limbs, but the females are limbless.

Several other species never seen before have recently been found in Cambodia, including carnivorous plants and a frog with green blood.

Dr Jenny Daltry, senior conservation biologist with FFI, said: “This latest find is particularly remarkable – it is not only a new species, but also the first reptile to be both discovered and formally described in a scientific journal by a Cambodian national.”