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Blind Worm Lizard
''Amphisbaena caeca'', commonly known as the Puerto Rican worm lizard or blind worm lizard, is a species of Amphisbaenidae, worm lizard Endemism, endemic to Puerto Rico. These animals are vermicular reptiles that live under logs, rocks, and dirt. Other species of Amphisbaenids in the Caribbean include ''Amphisbaena bakeri'', ''Amphisbaena fenestrata, Amphisbaena schmidti'', ''Amphisbaena xera'', and ''Cadea blanoides''. Amphisbaenids are legless, worm-like reptiles with elongated bodies nearly uniform in diameter. They are covered with ring-like scales similar in appearance to earthworms. They are underground animals, hence the eyes have degenerated to tiny indistinct spots under the rings. Description ''Amphisbaena caeca'' is pinkish-brown on the head and tail, with dark spots on each of the scales found throughout its annuli (body rings), of which there are between 214 and 237 in this species. This helps distinguish it from ''A. bakeri'', whose annuli count is greater. It is on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Cuvier
Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century and was instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology through his work in comparing living animals with fossils. Cuvier's work is considered the foundation of vertebrate paleontology, and he expanded Linnaean taxonomy by grouping classes into phylum, phyla and incorporating both fossils and living species into the classification. Cuvier is also known for establishing extinction as a fact—at the time, extinction was considered by many of Cuvier's contemporaries to be merely controversial speculation. In his ''Essay on the Theory of the Earth'' (1813) Cuvier proposed that now-extinct species had been wiped out by periodic catastrophi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
