Word Finder - lizards

definition

Any reptile of the order Squamata that is not a snake, usually having four legs, external ear openings, movable eyelids and a long slender body and tail.

definition

(chiefly in attributive use) Lizard skin, the skin of these reptiles.

definition

An unctuous person.

definition

A coward.

definition

(rock paper scissors) A hand forming a "D" shape with the tips of the thumb and index finger touching (a handshape resembling a lizard), that beats paper and Spock and loses to rock and scissors in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.

definition

(in compounds) A person who idly spends time in a specified place, especially a promiscuous female.

example

lounge lizard; lot lizard; beach lizard; truck stop lizard

There are snakes and small lizards, but no frogs or toads.

Lizards occur in great profusion and variety.

Of reptiles there are the alligator, and several species each of turtles, lizards and snakes.

Lizards are not poisonous, with the single exception of Heloderma.

This and some other lizards have power to change their colour, not only from light to dark, but over some portions of their bodies, from yellow to grey or red.

Every bayou contains alligators; and reptiles of various species, such as turtles, lizards, horned toads, rattlesnakes and moccasins are abundant.

The list of reptiles includes the venomous Vipera ammodytes and Pelias berus, while scorpions and lizards infest the stony wastes of the Karst.

In addition Cuvier accepts the Linnaean subdivisions of Amphibia-Reptilia for the tortoises, lizards (including crocodiles), salamanders and frogs; and Amphibia-Serpentes for the snakes, apodal lizards and Caeciliae.

Lagartos (Iguanas) and lizards are common everywhere.

A large Mygale found on the island of Siriba, of the Abrolhos group, feeds upon lizards, and has been known to attack and kill young chickens.

Some nine or ten other species of snakes are present, together with an abundance of lizards, including the Varanus, and most species of Mediterranean tortoises are represented.

The head is very small and not distinct from the neck, a usual feature in burrowing snakes and lizards.

Some are said occasionally to resort to berries and other fruit for food, but as a rule they are carnivorous, feeding chiefly on birds and their eggs, small mammals, as squirrels, hares, rabbits and moles, but chiefly mice of various kinds, and occasionally snakes, lizards and frogs.

Of the lizards, 3 of the 6 species of Varanidae, 16 of the 30 Scincidae, 8 Geckonidae, and 8 out of the 11 Agamidae are peculiar.

Scorpions and tarantulas are numerous, and lizards, frogs, beetles, ants, butterflies, moths and flies are abundant.

The crocodile is common in many of the rivers and estuaries of Siam, and there are many lizards.

Bears, wolves, foxes, goats (kokmet), wild sheep (arkharis), lizards, earth-rats, and a small rodent (teshikan), with ravens, eagles, wild ducks and wild geese are the other varieties principally encountered.

Among the reptiles are various species of serpents, tortoises, turtles, lizards, &c. Locusts are common and sometimes do great damage.

Although feeding chiefly on roots, fruits and grain, it is also to some extent carnivorous, attacking and eating small quadrupeds, lizards and birds.

The majority are distinguished from snakes by the possession of two pairs of limbs, of external ear-openings and movable eyelids, but since in not a few of the burrowing, snake-shaped lizards these characters give way entirely, it is well-nigh impossible to find a diagnosis which should be absolutely sufficient for the distinction between lizards and snakes.

The lizards and snakes are the two dominant reptilian orders which are still on the increase in species, though certainly not in size.

In many lizards the muscles of the segments of the tail are so loosely connected and the vertebrae are so weak that the tail easily breaks off.

This faculty is of advantage to those lizards which lack other means of escape when pursued by some other animal, which is satisfied with capturing the detached member.

The motions of most lizards are executed with great but not enduring rapidity.

But the limbs show with regard to development great variation, and an uninterrupted transition from the most perfect condition of two pairs with five separate clawed toes to their total disappearance; yet even limbless lizards retain bony vestiges beneath the skin.

The motions of these limbless lizards are similar to those of snakes, which they resemble in their elongate body.

Many lizards, however, retain the eggs in the oviducts until the embryo is fully developed; these species then bring forth living young and are called ovo-viviparous by purists.

Some lizards possess a considerable amount of intelligence; they play with each other, become very tame, and act deliberately according to circumstances.

Pleurodont lizards with well-developed limbs; without temporal bony arches; postthoracic ribs united across the abdomen.

Acrodont, Old World lizards, with laterally compressed body, prehensile tail and well developed limbs with the digits arranged in opposing, grasping bundles of two and three respectively.

The Varanidae stand quite alone, in many respects the highest of all lizards, with some, quite superficial, Crocodilian resemblances.

Allied is Sceloporus, with about 34 species, the most characteristic genus of Mexican lizards; only 4 species live in the United States, and only 3 or 4 are found south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and are restricted to Central America.

The presence of such dewlaps in lizards is always a sign of an excitable temper.

The Lacertidae or true lizards comprise about 20 genera, with some 1 00 species, most abundant in Africa; their northern limit coincides.

Even the small island-rocks of the Mediterranean, sometimes only a few hundred yards in diameter, are occupied by peculiar races of lizards, which have attracted much attention from the fact that they have assumed under such isolated conditions a more or less dark,.

The members of this family seem to lead a snake-like life, not subterranean, and some are said to eat other lizards.

Finally the presence of the flying lizards (Pterydactylus, Rhamphorhynchus) and the ancient birds (Archaeopteryx) is determined from remains in a most wonderful state of preservation in these ancient deposits.

Thus the analysis of George Baur of the ancestral form of the lizards, mosasaurs, dinosaurs, crocodiles and phytosaurs led both to the generalized Palaeohatteria of the Permian and indirectly to the surviving Tuatera lizard of New Zealand.

Mexico is a paradise of lizards, which are noted for their diversity in form as well as for their remarkable colouration.

There are various peculiar species of frogs, lizards and snakes, including the great frog Rana Guppyi, from 2 to 3 lb in weight.

Lizards of many kinds are found, including the monitor.

The Reptilia include countless numbers of alligators in the Guayas and its tributaries and in the tide-water channels of many of the smaller rivers; many species of lizards, of which Mr Whymper found three in the Quito basin; snakes of every description from the huge anaconda of the Amazon region down to the beautifully marked coral snake; and a great variety of frogs and toads.

Snakes - many of them venomous - are numerous, and there are many varieties of lizards.

Flying lizards abound in the forests.

Noteworthy in the animal life of the lower Sonoran and tropic region are a variety of snakes and lizards, desert rats and mice; and, among birds, the cactus wren, desert thrasher, desert sparrow, Texas night-hawk, mocking-bird and ground cuckoo or road runner (Geococcyx Californianus).

Squirrels, flying-squirrels, porcupines, civet-cats, rats, bats, flying-foxes and lizards are found in great variety; snakes of various kinds, from the boa-constrictor downward, are abundant, while the forests swarm with tree-leeches, and the marshes with horse-leeches and frogs.

Lastly, the weasel, mouse and most lizards were taboo.

There are no alligators in the streams, and the tropical north has very few lizards.

The tarsier feeds chiefly on insects and lizards, sleeps during the day, but is tolerably active at night, moving chiefly by jumping from place to place; an action for which the structure of its hind-legs seems particularly well adapted.

Reptiles, as might be anticipated, are far from numerous, but a few lizards are found, belonging for the most part to types, such as Phrynocephalus, characteristic of the Central-Asiatic area.