Worm Lizards

Worm Lizards

Worm Lizards
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	9.98

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		cylindrical, passion, hence, based, species, temperate, translucent, mole, lower, interesting, apparent, external, inspection, nevertheless, separate, powerful
	content words:		North America

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Worm Lizards

¹ At first glance, worm lizards and earthworms look alike, because both have cylindrical bodies and share the same passion for burrowing in soil. Nevertheless, upon a close-up inspection, the differences between these two animals become apparent. First, worm lizards have scales covering their bodies, but earthworms do not. Second, worm lizards are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but earthworms are invertebrates (animals without backbones.) Third, worm lizards eat small animals (such as worms, insects, and insect larvae), but earthworms feed on decaying organisms. Based on these distinctions, scientists categorize worm lizards and earthworms into two separate groups -- worm lizards are reptiles, and earthworms are annelids or segmented worms.

² Of more than 150 species of worm lizards, none have hind legs and all but three lack front limbs as well. Since most worm lizards do not have front limbs to assist them in digging, they come to rely on their thick, bony skulls as their excavating tools. Regardless of how they shovel, worm lizards have several physical adaptations allowing them to keep out dirt. For example, they forgo external ear openings, cover each of their two tiny eyes with a layer of translucent skin, point their nostrils backward, and recess their powerful lower jaws.

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