Photo: Cristiano Nogueira / Conservation International
Scientists from the Conservation International and Brazilian universities found 14 new species in the protected wooded grassland of Brazil's Cerrado. Amongst the new species is this legless lizard of the genus Bachia:
This species of lizard of the genus Bachia is one of the new species discovered during the expedition. Although there are other species of the genus in the Cerrado (almost all discovered and described only recently), this new species has only been recorded in the Ecological Station. The absence of legs and the sharply pointed snout help in locomotion over the surface layer of sandy soil, predominating in all the Jalapao, formed by the natural erosion of the escarpments of the Serra Geral plateaus.
Link | View the new species at CI's gallery - Thanks Lindsay Walter-Cox!
I'm not sure what to do with this thing. The picture tells me to treat it like a snake but people say it moves like a lizard.
I think I might also be grossed out by things that look indeterminate.
I guess I have to be a little less subtle. I wasn't seriously suggesting that this was proof of Intelligent Design. However, proponents of ID would jump at this "proof" in much the same way that dude jumped at the banana being nature's perfect fruit. And they would rightly respond to the "I'm sure if you looked at the fossil record" in much the same way. You can't base all of your scientific proof on a preconceived notion - that would make the "Garden of Eden snake" theory just as plausible as the "I'm sure if..." theory.
I better just stick with fart jokes.
You indicate “I’m sure if we traced the fossil record” without any knowledge if such a fossil record exists. You are making a non-scientific statement based entirely on presumption.
A hell of a lot more reasonable than this!:
"If this were a descendant of the Eden “snake”, it would show stubs where the legs should be. That way, it would always be reminded of its ancestor’s original sin."
lmao how old are you...why do you still believe in fairy tales? Talk about presumption