Limbless lizard found in India

A new species of limbless lizard has been found in a forested area in eastern India, an Indian zoologist said Monday.

"Preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus Sepsophis," said Sushil Kumar Dutta, who led a team of researchers from North Orissa University and a non-governmental organization called Vasundhra.

"The lizard is new to science and is an important discovery. It is not found anywhere else in the world," said Dutta, head of the zoology department of at North Orissa University in the eastern Indian town of Baripada.

"The new species will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more data," he added.

The lizard is 18-cm long, but is not a snake. I mean it LOOKS exactly like a snake but apparently it's not. Snakes and lizards may have evolved from the same species however, they belong to two entirely separate groups of animals. Snakes, over the years, gradually lost their limbs. Modern limbless lizards are not snakes. The lizard was found a little over a week ago in the forested region of Khandadhar about 1,000 kilometres southeast of New Delhi. There have been other limbless lizards found close by in Sri Lanka as well as in south Africa, but this one is a new find.