2Metal Dog this one is for you.

[charisstoma]

This is the Mexican mole lizard, or ajolote (Bipes biporus). They are the only known non-extinct animal that has just two limbs, aside from the Lesser and Greater Siren.



These subterranean amphisbaenians (lizards, in some people's estimation) only grow to about 8" in length (that's a thumb tip in the background of the pic for size comparison), but they're truly bizarre animals. Some people who live in their range believe that if a person sits on the ground, one of these may burrow up from the ground and enter their digestive system through their anus. Pretty scary stuff, possibly intended to teach children to keep up off the dirt to stay cleaner.

The animals are completely innocuous, existing on ants, termites and small 'bugs' like that. Their two powerful front legs - their only legs - allow them to tunnel efficiently through the top foot or so of soil.
http://www.bluechameleon.org/Photo%20&%20Image%20Stockpile%20-%20BCV/WEB%20-%20Bipes%20biporus.htm

Okay, found in the comments...Lindworm's are real.
Lindworm?
Lindworm = a fabulous monster usually resembling a wingless wyvern. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lindworm

The two-legged and wingless Lindworm (Draco serpentalis) is primarily seen from a great distance away, hunting wild Bactrian camels at speeds of 30 miles per hour. It probably gave rise to tales of the Mongolian Death Worm.

Description.
They are 8 to 10 feet high and continually grow in length by a few inches a year, the oldest males being 35 feet long. Colouration is orange, sandy yellow or pale green, varying to match the lindworm's terrain. Older males have yellow spines on their backs and wattles on the nose and chin. They have the best sense of smell of all dragons, making studying it unnoticed near-impossible. Clutches of up to twenty of their long pale eggs are buried although few hatch. Those which do ride on their mother's backs and only get off to feed.
http://dragons.wikia.com/wiki/Lindworm_(Dragonology)


Ooooooh.

Comments

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

Is it bad that I think they're kinda cute? I like lizards and snakes. I don't mind the larger spiders like tarantulas, but prefer to keep some distance between me and them (their hairs give me hives when they touch my skin).

Not a big fan of bugs though. Too annoying and the ones that are the hardest to kill (that mosquito in the dark bedroom at 3am, the housefly that won't stop circling your head no matter how man times you swat at it, the no-see-ums, etc.) are ALWAYS the most annoying. That and I'm deathly allergic to bees, wasps, hornets, yellowjackets, etc. and the fact that the epipen that is supposed to help save my life can have... interesting results because of my MVP... yeah, not a big bug fan.

[meridae.livejournal.com]

Gen mod waiting to happen, just saying.

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

I think I'm safe. I already have a Naga story in the works and they're sort of similar so.... But I know better than to say an outright no *snickers*.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Some of the photos of them have them normal earthworm size but 8" that's pushing it.
The Sirens are all aquatic and live in some of the eastern southern states. So where did the Lindworm come from.... ooooh yeah Vikings made it to the 'New World', they think to the Mary's Vineyard area at least. They could have met a Siren.

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

Vikings made it to Newfoundland here in Canada and actually had a settlement there. Could have seen a siren there and brought back tales of the weird. Just imagine them describing seeing a moose or beaver for the first time to their fellow vikings.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Watched a documentary on the Vikings as colonizers in the Americas. They were looking at the Vikings using the Mississippi as a possible route into areas of the U.S. because they found some stones with runes in unlikely places that seemed authentic.
Sirens can be found today as far north as eastern Virginia. Don't know if their habitat has shrunk or if they've only been located there.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

The circling fly - they drive you CrAzY!

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

Very. I think the only worse ones are the wasps that circle your pop and land on the lip make you scared of accidentally drinking one of the nasty little fuckers.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

Not too many wasps here, our garden is usually full of Bees though - so with your allergies you're not invited!

My dad found a big Wasp nest in his shed a few years back.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Houseflies. there's a fly swatter for that. Deer Flies, those predatory annoyances that bite and look like houseflies with bars on their wings, those I have an issue with.

Too often I've heard of wasps getting inside the soda can and stinging the person drinking. Best excuse for a bottle with resealable cap.

I find these lizards interesting and slightly freaky. Snakes aren't supposed to have front legs but my mind keeps saying this is a worm with eyes and front feet.

[2metaldog.livejournal.com]

We have something similar (or possibly the same creature) we call horse flies. They're easily twice the size of a house fly (I've personally killed one half the size of my thumb!) and boy can they take a chunk out of you when they bite. Swatting at them only serves to piss them of, too

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Deer fly are house fly size. Horse flies are huge in relation to them. They bite like Horse flies and leave a red spot about the size of the head of a straight pin.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

How about Axotls? Give me a minute and I'll post a pic ;)

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

*SMILES* I've found a creepy crawly that you don't mind.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

*ignoring it's worm like look* the face is cute?
STILL wary of anything you post. Posted you a cute creature though!

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Do I need to post what a centipede looks like or are you familiar with what they are?
They do look very like those Methane Ice critters.
Think I'll leave you to look them up if you're interested, which I'm betting you aren't. I like you after all.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

Have them in the garden. Unmagnified they don't bother me as much.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

There are centipedes and then there are millipedes.
Millipedes are the really small ones like hard shelled worms but they've many tiny little legs.
Centipedes have knees, so to speak, and run really fast. They've got that antenna look to them all over and I'm told they can bite.
Suppose some helpful ship could have brought some into the U.K. and/or *grins* your cold weather keeps them under a certain size.

[mee-eep.livejournal.com]

I refuse to google pictures of the differences. Any many legged little thing I see I say 'oh centipeede' then move on.

Ignoring crawly Charis posts 'la la lala laaa la la lala laaaaaaaaAAAAAA'

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

*SNICKERING*