Muller's Nessia

Müller's nessia, or Sarasins's snake skink, is a dry zone skink endemic to Sri Lanka, recorded from Maha Oya, Lahugala Kitulana National Park, Polonnaruwa, Buttala, Dambulla and Batticaloa. It is named for the Swiss cousins and zoologists Karl Friedrich and Paul Benedict Sarasin. The body is slender and of equal girth from head to tail with a short acute snout and a scaly lower eyelid. The forelimbs are missing and each hind limb is reduced to a bud. The back is light brown or bluish grey (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is terrestrial and fossorial, burrowing in loose soil beneath plant litter and around tree roots in forest at 100 to 500 m, and occasionally found in home gardens. Nationally Vulnerable (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).