Could someone help me identify this legless lizard?

[worshipskatan]

I was given this dead specimen to preserve but I am not 100% sure what specie this is. I've tried determining on my own but I'd prefer to get other opinions from someone with more knowledge of these guys. I apologize as this isn't the best photo quality. Thanks in advance for any input!

legless by Dane Shackelford, on Flickr

 

[sschind]

Looks like a slender glass lizard to me Ophisaurus attenuatus. Where was it found that would help identify the subspecies. Your profile says you are in Baton Rouge and if that is the case and it was found nearby my guess would be the eastern slender glass lizard O.a. longicaudus. The western slender glass lizard O. a. attenuatus is also found in LA but further west. The eastern glass lizard Ophisaurus ventralis is also found in LA and its range overlaps the ESGL but it looks like and ESGL to me based on the stripes and lack of dorsal pattern. It looks like a young specimen so maybe the young EGLs look more like the ESGLs but if I had to guess though I'd say ESGL. My herpetology professor in college did research on these guys so I saw a quite a few of them but it was a long time ago. I'm going primarily off wikipedia range maps and google images now.

 

[worshipskatan]

It was given to me from a LPS, actually. I'm not sure where they got it from. I'm sure a distributor from elsewhere. The tail is incredibly hard, like glass feeling...so while I was fixing him I was thinking it could be some form of glass lizard. I really don't know anything about legless lizards honestly so I was just guessing. I think you are right about it being Ophisaurus attenuatus. I'm going to do some more comparing now that I have a more definitive lead. Thank you so much for your reply!

 

[sschind]

If its from a LPS it could be an exotic. Besides the 2 species I mentioned there are two other species native to the US that look similar but given their distribution I doubt it would be either of those. (the Island and the Mimic glass lizards) A quick look at a few of the non native species shows that a lot of them look very similar so location might be your only way of nailing it down for certain. The LPS should at least be able to find out if its a native or an import from their distributor. IMO they should be able to nail it down as to the species and subspecies as well but sadly not all dealers are so knowledgeable.

There are many types of legless lizards but I would bet almost anything that's it is a glass lizard from the Ophisaurus genus