Differences in habitat use are often correlated with differences in morphology and behavior, while animals in similar habitats often exhibit similarities in form and function. However, this has not been tested extensively among lizards, especially geckos. Most studies of gecko locomotion have focused on the ability to adhere to surfaces. However, there are several species of geckos that have ei...

The sandfish lizard, Scincus scincus (Squamata: Scincidae), spends nearly its whole life in aeolian sand and only comes to the surface for foraging, defecating and mating. It is not yet understood how the animal can respire without sand particles entering its respiratory organs when buried under thick layers of sand. In this work, we integrated biological studies, computational calculations and...

Animals like the sandfish lizard (Scincus scincus) that live in desert sand locomote on and within a granular medium whose resistance to intrusion is dominated by frictional forces. Recent kinematic studies revealed that the sandfish utilizes a wave of body undulation during swimming. Models predict that a particular combination of wave amplitude and wavelength yields maximum speed for a given ...

The desert-dwelling sandfish (Scincus scincus) moves within dry sand, a material that displays solid and fluidlike behavior. High-speed x-ray imaging shows that below the surface, the lizard no longer uses limbs for propulsion but generates thrust to overcome drag by propagating an undulatory traveling wave down the body. Although viscous hydrodynamics can predict swimming speed in fluids such ...

Ophiotaenia sp. n. (Proteocephalidae: Proteocephalinae) is collected from the intestine of Scincus scincus Linnaeus, 1758 (Family: Scincidae) lizards from Sinai, Egypt. This species is rare with both prevalence and intensity low. The medullary position of the vitellaria and reproductive organs, the uniloculate suckers and the two separate fields of testes placed it in the genus Ophiotaenia La R...

The publication date, availability and onymotope of the nomen Scincus cyanurus are assessed. was validly published by Lesson in 1830 is based on a holophoront, probably from island Tahiti. Elements allowing identification nomina cited synonymy given. Eumeces lessonii Duméril & Bibron, 1839 replacement name this (alloneonym) Emoia pheonura Ineich, 1987 subjective synonym (doxisonym) whereas Tili...