This undated hand out photo provided by Indian zoologist Sushil Kumar Dutta, shows a new species of limbless lizard belonging to the genus sepsophis.(Fiel Photo)

    BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists have found a new species of limbless lizard in a forested area in east India, according to media reports Tuesday.

    "The lizard is new to science and is an important discovery. It is not found anywhere else in the world," said Sushil Kumar Dutta, head of the zoology department of the North Orissa University in the eastern Indian town of Baripada.

    The newly found 7-inch long lizard looks like a scaly, small snake, Dutta said. "It prefers to live in a cool retreat, soft soil and below stones."

    The lizard was found 10 days ago during a field study in the forested region of Khandadhar near Raurkela in Orissa state, about 1125 kilometers southeast of New Delhi, he said.

    "The new species will be scientifically described at a later stage after accumulation of more data," Dutta said.

    The other limbless lizards belonging to different families have been found in India's Nicobar island, in the northeast, and in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states, he said.

    While modern snakes and lizards are derived from a common evolutionary ancestor, they belong today to two entirely separate groups of animals, or orders.

    Snakes, over millenia, gradually lost their limbs and developed their characteristic forms of locomotion. But modern limbless lizards are not snakes, Dutta said.

    The closest relatives of the new species are found in Sri Lanka and South Africa, Dutta said.

    (Agencies)