Knowra Amphisbaenia Amphisbaenia Amphisbaenia is a group of mostly limbless, burrowing squamates called worm lizards. Its members have elongated bodies, reduced eyes, and adaptations for moving through soil.
Squamata : The reptile order containing lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians. Amphisbaenians are a distinctive lineage within this order.
Fossorial locomotion : Movement adapted to digging or traveling through soil and other confined substrates. It describes how worm lizards advance through their underground tunnels.
Squamate phylogeny : The evolutionary relationships among lizards, snakes, and other squamates. The placement of amphisbaenians among squamates has shifted with new evidence.
Convergent evolution : The independent evolution of similar traits in different lineages facing similar pressures. Their elongated, reduced-limbed form evolved alongside similar shapes in unrelated burrowers.
Snakes : A suborder of limbless squamates with elongated bodies and highly mobile jaws. Their superficial resemblance obscures major differences in skulls, scales, and burrowing habits.
Fossoriality : The specialization of animals for digging and living underground. This lifestyle explains many of the group’s shared body-form adaptations.
Cranial kinesis : Movement between skull bones that changes the shape or function of the skull during feeding. Some amphisbaenian skulls are rigidly reinforced, while others retain specialized cranial movement.
Cretaceous : The geologic period from about 145 to 66 million years ago. Fossil evidence places early amphisbaenian history within the Cretaceous.
Adaptive radiation : The diversification of a lineage into ecological roles, often as it encounters new opportunities. Differences in skull form and habitat illuminate ecological diversification within the group.
Dibamidae : A family of small, mostly limbless lizards with reduced eyes, found in Southeast Asia and Mexico. Dibamids independently evolved a wormlike form but are not amphisbaenians.
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